Oia, Santorini - Greece Travel | Balling On A College Student Budget

Ah, finally the long overdue Santorini blog post. If you've been keeping up with me on Instagram and Snapchat you've already seen a few pictures and videos but now I'm happy to be sharing this moment here with you guys.

People often have perceptions of places and when they visit, things aren't exactly how they imagined them to be. For example Disneyland and the long rides, the Mona Lisa and the crowd of people wanting to take a photo etc. etc. For me, Santorini was everything I imagined it to be and more. I don't want to keep boring you guys with the cheesiness so I'm just going to jump right into how my trip went down.

After a lot of saving to travel and study abroad, a group of friends and I with a common wish of visiting Santorini decided to make the trip happen. Before we knew it, the airbnb was reserved, flights booked, and we were off to the land of white and blue! We stayed in the most amazing Villa with the traditional cave-like aesthetic. We had pebble-floored showers, 2 jacuzzi's and a rooftop dining area.

You guys are probably wondering how in the world we afforded such a place. Well it was a rented home that we found on airbnb and we split it amongst 12 people which made it way cheaper than getting multiple hotel rooms. #BallingOnABudget! This was a great perk of traveling in a large group and yes everyone got their own beds to sleep in. In a way, it felt like an episode of Jersey Shore, especially when we all got into the jacuzzi's and blasted music at 1am LOL.

Santorini is a fairly small island but if you aren't specifically in the Oia or Fira towns and you want to travel around the island you might want to consider renting an ATV (4 wheel motorcycle) which was what we did! Yes you can rent cars or take the bus, but chasing the sunset on an ATV is more enjoyable anyway. #IslandVibes! We got 6 in total and rode in pairs.  After splitting the costs it all came down to about $35 per person for the entire week. Not bad at all!

When we weren't relaxing in our villa, roaming around the island on our 4 wheelers, or finding new places to eat, we headed down to the black sanded beach of Perissa. My favortie part of the beach is that the "sand" is actually really small black pebbles so you don't get that annoying feeling of sand sticking to your feet. Another highlight of the trip was exploring Oia which is pronounced (E-Ah). This is the picturesque village shown in literally every single postcard with the blue dome churches and all.

They say the best sunsets in the world are seen here and I can definitely see why after experiencing it for myself. Such an incredible moment having the opportunity to be there and witness it with my very own eyes. Like many people, Santorini has been on my bucket list for the longest time. I vividly remember being a small kid looking at travel magazines and pictures of Greece dreaming that one day I'd get to go. Eventually, I did get to visit Greece on a family vacation while in middle school, but the cruise ship we were on stopped everywhere EXCEPT Santorini. Please let me know how you miss the main place. Oh well..... That was a bummer, but I couldn't complain because the rest of the country was extremely beautiful and I knew I'd be back one day to fulfill my Oia-Santorini goal.

Fast forward to now that I am in college and boom that dream came true! I'm getting chills writing this because I'm remembering the feeling I felt while I was there. Santorini was the most spectacular place I've ever had the opportunity to visit. Being there was so surreal. With that being said, I just wanted to mention that everything in life is obtainable. You too can make your dreams come true and I hope that this serves as motivation for many of you to just get up and go do whatever it is that you've been wanting to for so long. Don't let money stop you because as you can see, there are ways to make it work!

Thank you so much for reading!

If you have any questions regarding the trip and my experience or anything in general feel free to drop them down below. P.S. This trip was in no way sponsored and be sure to stay on the look out for a video coming soon on my youtube channel. :)

Weekend in Amsterdam

What's up guys! I'm back with another post, this time about a weekend trip I took to Amsterdam! I know.. I know what everyone's thinking.... Amsterdam? *Insert moon & eyes emoji*  The interesting part is that this was actually my second time visiting. As crazy as it may sound, my first time visiting was with my grandma LOL. It was back during the summer of 2014 and little did I know then that I would be returning to the city of bikes two years later. I was 17 at the time and on a family vacation but it was still a really great time.
I loved how walkable the city is, the canals, and the vibes. Fast forward to now as a 19 year old study abroad student and my views have not changed. When the opportunity to return presented itself I decided why not take it and see how different my experience would be as college student and with other people my age. It was still a really great time even though I did not partake in certain activities that my peers were interested in because you know.... your boy Sebastian isn't about that life. It's okay though, because I got to visit the Vangough museum and explore the city a little bit more. Amsterdam is a beautiful city with so much to do other than the stereotypical shenanigans it is known for. Here are some pictures from my weekend in Amsterdam!

P.S. I've been uploading a lot more frequently on my youtube channel now so you guys should definitely check it out.

Thanks for reading, hope everyone has a great week!

M O N T E C A R L O - Monaco (3/3)

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Once upon on a time there was an extravagant place filled with every luxury you could possibly imagine. A place where Ferrari's and Rolls Royces were bountiful throughout the land. A place where 1 in every 3 people are millionaires. Nope, this isn't a fairy tale or a dream, this is Monaco. Considered to be the smallest country in the world (if you don't count The Vatican) located near the south of France alongside the Mediterranean.

I have always dreamed about one day visiting Monte Carlo, Monaco. I had read about its existence and seen pictures of it in the European magazines my grandma reads, but I couldn't believe it was an actual place. The port itself was unlike anything I have ever seen before docked only with gigantic yachts, the biggest in the world. Some larger than the size of a house. #Goals! Lets not forget about the roars of Lambo's and opulent sports cars you hear as they speed through the entire city. As if it couldn't get any better, high end stores, hotels, and the infamous Monte Carlo casino are right at your disposal. All of this in a picture perfect hillside coast with magnificent views and cotton candy sunsets.

If the bougie deep down of you isn't LIVING then why are you even in Monaco? Being there was so surreal and I felt like I was walking in a place my mind had made up. I hate to sound like a materialistic, lavish obsessed snob but I really enjoyed visiting Monaco and seeing how the top percentile of the world lived. It served as motivation to keep working hard because anything is truly obtainable. Everyone has different goals and often times we think they are too far of a reach and are only realistic in our dreams but being in Monaco reminded me that, that isn't always the case. If you can dream it you can achieve it!

Hope you guys enjoyed the pictures and reading about my visit to Monaco. It really felt like a fictitious land but the fact that it wasn't and an actual place like Monaco exists really put things into perspective for me. On that note, remember to never give up because ANYTHING is possible.

Sebastian

Spring Break Trip: LOS ANGELES

As you can tell by the title, this article is going to be about my spring break trip to Los Angeles, California! This wasn't any regular spring break trip, however, it was a plunge program with my school's campus ministry. When I first found out about the plunge program and the trips that they held I was very eager to participate and signed up immediately. It's wonderful that my school has this program for students to immerse themselves in Vincentian service and participate in a great cause.

During the trip we stayed in the Skid Row area of Downtown LA at the Cardinal Manning Center. CMC is a homeless shelter that offers a program for men to transition from living in the streets to finding their home.

We spent the week volunteering at multiple places such as: Maryvale, Hotel Dieu, The Hippie Kitchen, Meals on Wheels, and Midnight Mission, as well as connecting with members of the fellow Vincentian family.

Maryvale was the first orphanage in Los Angeles established by the Daughters of Charity. The organization takes care of orphaned, abused or neglected children. At Maryvale we played and had lunch with a group kids from the orphanage. It was great spending the afternoon playing basketball and just making sure the kids had a fun time.

Hotel Dieu is pretty much a senior citizens home that also doubles up as the Meals on Wheels headquarters in Los Angeles. Meals on Wheels is a nationwide organization that focuses on providing meals to those unable to make their own food or go and get it. What is great about Meals on Wheels is that no senior citizen has to worry about not being able to pay for their own meals because the fee ranges from free to no charge depending on what each person can contribute. At Hotel Dieu we played bingo with the senior citizen residents and helped out in the kitchen to prepare the meals for delivery. After the meals were ready, we were each split into route groups and sent off with a driver to go around Los Angeles delivering meals. 

The two days I participated in Meals on Wheels I probably knocked on 40-50 doors in the West Hollywood Area and about 35 close to the Downtown LA area as well. It was nice to see how appreciate the clients were when we knocked on their door to deliver the food. Some people were really happy to see us because for many the volunteers at Meals on Wheels are the only people they see throughout their day. This portion of our service trip kept reminding me of my grandma. Although, she is very healthy and productive it made me think that all those people have kids and grand kids as well and if they were my grandparents I'd want them to be properly taken care of just the way l'd want my grandma to be.

Another one of our days of service consisted in waking up at 5am to participate in The Midnight Mission of Los Angeles. Their mission is to help those that have lost everything regain their former life again. At the mission we worked during breakfast and we each had a spot behind the counter of the food line to serve the homeless that would be coming in to eat that morning. I was in charge of serving the pancakes and the syrup!

A really fun volunteer experience was working at the Catholic Worker's Hippie Kitchen in Skid Row! The Hippie Kitchen also known as Hospitality Kitchen is pretty much a soup kitchen were people volunteer their time to prepare home cooked meals for the homeless. What is great about the Hippie Kitchen is that it is free and it is opened to anyone who simply wants to get in the line. As a volunteer, I did a variety of tasks such as picking oranges, cutting vegetables, to stirring the extremely large pots they had. The vibes at the Hippie Kitchen were incredible! Everyone was so warm and friendly and they were so happy to have us be there volunteering. The kitchen is full of murals with great messages and they even have a beautiful garden outside in the back with bird cages and where those seeking a meal can sit down and enjoy their time there.

Furthermore, one thing I should mention is that we visited Homeboy Industries during our time there and took a tour of the facility. Homeboy industries is an organization that helps decrease gang activity and recidivism by providing support, tattoo removal, job training, as well as job placement to ex-gang members. It's wonderful to me that everyone there has been a gang member before and they are their because they want to change and better themselves. It's great that they use their enterprise to benefit and provide a mean of improvement to those who seek it. Definitely recommend checking out their Homegirl Cafe, and Homeboy Diner if anyone is ever in the Los Angeles area. The food is great, and it supports an incredible cause.

Overall, my spring break experience was amazing. It was my first time spending my spring break volunteering and I am completely glad that I did. It felt so great knowing that I was contributing my free time in a productive manner doing service to help the Los Angeles community. Not only that, but it also happened to be my birthday during the week. Los Angeles, to much surprise has a homeless population of around 44,000 people. It is insane to think that so many people are just living in the streets without a shelter. The trip was a very eye opening and humbling experience. I am also glad I had the opportunity to have gone with an amazing group of people who I had the opportunity to get to know throughout the week. Everyone on the trip showed true compassion and love of god with the people we helped and they each taught me something individually.

P.S shout out to my plunge group for surprising me the day of my birthday with a cake!

Thanks for reading!

Sebastian