#ThrowBackSunday?

I’ve got about 3 posts to upload this Sunday.. Sorry bout it.

Okay so since I’ve officially begun my second and final semester here in Rome I thought it was only appropriate the reflect on what I went through during my first semester in Europe! So here’s a list I’ve compiled of whatever memories first came to mind:

• Stood 5 feet from the pope
• Skipped rocks in the French Rivera
• Practiced saying “hamburger” with a British accent
• Met people from Australia, London, Dublin, France, Arkansas, California, Canada, Sweden, and from all over Italy.
• Befriended works of art from michaelangelo and bernini
• Baguettes, Brie, and caprese. That is all.
• Mastered selfies at Stonehenge
• Touched a stage that led zeppelin, the who, and the Rolling Stones played on
• Stayed up all night with a stranger – 10 minutes later I got a cab to go to the airport to get on a plane to London
• Relived the ancient city of Pompeii
• Threw 3 coins in the trevi fountain
• Learned some Italian in the city of love
• Sang t swift accompanied by the ukulele
• Interpretive dance until 3:30 am
• Kissed a strange Italian man after wine night
• Watched the World Cup with Americans and Italians
• Learned how to open a bottle of wine (I know we’re all a little embarrassed it took so long, but can I just get a round of applause please?
• Booked a flight and hostel and actually made it to our destination
• Visited the Colosseum with my parents
• Ordered cheese for dinner. Just cheese.
• Read a romance novel on the edge of a fountain in Villa Borghese to the sound of a an accordion playing in the background
• Walked to piazza Navona at 4 a.m in the morning when it was empty
• Pet a shark in Monte Carlo and a donkey in London
• Went to Mass in St. Peter’s basilica
• Accidentally stumbled upon the mother basilica, San Giovanni
• Joined in an Italian Corpus Cristi parade
• Met a stand up comic from Arkansas
• Used my Italian to discuss cute boys whenever we went outside of Italy
• 2 a.m Mcdonald runs for 20 chicken nuggets
• Finding a rock concert in Piazza del Picolo
• Watched a national parade outside of the colosseum
• Went to the beach in Paestum
• Ate the world’s best pizza in Naples
• Learned how to say “pizza Rossa e coca cola”. The important things.
• Got in on a Rome dinner rotation
• Played card games in the courtyard
• Studied for Italian at Piazza Cavore
• Went to an Italian hospital because of an infected bug bite on my butt
• Got my first English beer from my old youth minister
• Had my confirmation crucifix ring blessed by the pope
• Collected post cards and wrote on them from all over Europe
• Cheered to a bachelor with his bachelor party at some pub in west Ireland
• Sat on the side of a cliff with a 500 foot drop
• Drank a Guinness at the Guinness story factory with a birds eye view of Dublin
• Stood where Jon snow stood in the filming of game of thrones
• Got my ear pierced in Dublin
• Dyed my hair purple in Rome
• Met some of the greatest friends a gal could have

By no means is this an exhaustive list of June — in fact most of these memories come from the last 2 or 3 weeks alone. I’m so excited to see what July and August bring!

The Luck of the Irish

My phone has this cute habit of dying when I’m having adventures and want to take pictures.. but I have gathered the few pictures I do have from my Irish adventures! (In hindsight though this is one of the most picture heavy posts I’ve written.. Sorry)

To preface this post about Ireland I should mention that my mom’s dad was from Ireland and his whole family is Irish. I know next to nothing about the Irish culture which is what made this trip all the more important to me — there will be a post coming soon just on my perception of the Irish and how I feel about my experiences with its culture. But for now I’ll just do my “week in pictures”!

 

To start with I fell in love with Dublin from the moment we left the airport to get to our hostel. It was big, rustic, and lively. I can’t ever recall a time that a city that I’ve envisioned in books coming to life in a way that Dublin did for me that first day! The streets are lined with pubs, shops, and there were so many people out and about despite the chilly weather and gray skies. Absolutely. Stunning.

 

I think we can all agree that traveling is the worst part of travel. The buses, the plane rides, the number of hours of just waiting is absolutely exhausting and I almost always count that day as a lost afternoon just because of how we tired we all are after transporting our bodies across borders. So the first day we just settled in and made some plans, went to dinner at the oldest pub in Ireland, and agreed to be up bright and early the next morning!

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On our second day in Dublin we found ourselves on a free 3 hour walking tour provided by our lovely hostel! Ohmygoodnessgracious. Day 2 and I was coming up with plans to obtain my Irish citizenship and figure out how I could move to this wonderful city.

 

Our guide had that dry sense of humor that initially took me by surprise but which I quickly came to enjoy. I learned more in that 3 hours than I ever have in a history class just because we were walking around and heard from someone directly impacted by Irish history. It was at this point that I started to get a taste of what a hard past Ireland has gone through. Our guide would have been scolded back in the States for his controversial commentary on the politics, religion, and culture of his country. I loved every bit of it. I appreciated the fact that he didn’t separate the reality of his country from the pretty scenery and the nice monuments. He made it clear why the monuments held significance, or didn’t.

   

We had delicious pot pie during our break halfway through the tour and it was such a nice afternoon just sitting outside and listening to that brogue accent and watching people going about their business!

 

One of the most captivating things I saw on the tour were these statues scattered across Dublin featured in the far right picture above. Everywhere we went we would see these depictions of too-skinny and meek citizens who represented those who were forced to emigrate during the Irish Famine. It’s really easy to dismiss that entire part of history as someone else’s generation and no longer relevant. (Guys, I promise I’m not vapid or careless, these are just things that don’t really plague my mind at nights!) But after hearing our guide’s first hand recount of his family’s history with the famine and the impact it had on the entire nation.. and effectively the rest of the world due to the massive emigration, I had a whole new respect for what the Irish people had to endure.

Following our amazing tour around Dublin we went to the Guinness store house! I was telling my dad that Guinness is probably my favorite beer out of all of them so it was appropriate to visit the place where it all started!

I’m not a fan of partying back in the States on account of the law, the gross environment surrounding alcohol in Gainesville, and because it’s never been on my list of priorities.. but going to this store house and hearing about the story of Guinness definitely made me appreciate all the time and effort that went into building the “perfect” beer. It was an unexpected education I gladly received!

  

The top floor of the shop featured a panoramic view of Dublin and I loved sitting down with my friends and taking all the views in! I had to finish about 3 other girl’s drinks because they apparently did not appreciate the dark beer. Dad would be so proud.

   

So.. that night I followed in my oldest brother’s footsteps and got my front helix pierced in a nice little tattoo shop about 5 blocks from our hostel. Because why not?

 

DAY 3 WAS A MAGICAL DAY. We went on an all day tour to Cliffs of Moher. Now you may be thinking, as I was, that I spent about 12 hours to go see a cliff. And honestly I had kind of expected that too. Because the tour was just called “Cliffs of Moher” tour and we just kind of went for it.. BUT NOPE. Our guide, Joe, to start off with, was the most outgoing and energetic adult I have ever met. He was singing the entire way, telling stories, and recounted the history of Ireland. He was an absolute joy to drive with and I appreciated all the commentary he provided!

We first stopped at St. John’s castle in Limerick. It was a quick stop but I liked the view and felt like I was experiencing more than just the Dublin scene in Ireland, which is great because I’ll be moving there soon and need every bit of exposure I can get.

Then we just went straight to the cliffs and whoa holy moly. When we first arrived the fog was so thick you really couldn’t see 10 feet in front of you. I was a little sad. I could even feel the bitter words coming out that “maybe we shouldn’t have come after all..” right before the fog lifted. People always write that in books, but I swear it was like the fog was on a string that someone just tugged up on. Within the span of 2 minutes we had a spectacularly clear view of the cliffs.

I could probably spend an entire day talking about the cliffs and just reflecting on its size and shape, but I won’t because I value your sanity. Suffice it to say, the entire experience was absolutely breath taking. Every time we walked a little further up a cliff we were exposed to a new view from our angle and I never got tired of looking down at the waves crashing against the shore. We threw a rock down and lost sight of it about 300 feet to go.

 

After we went to the cliffs we stopped by several places. First up, another set of cliffs. These were smaller but no less beautiful. Remember Joe? He’s a little nuts. He went bouncing from rock to rock and invited us to join him.. apparently only Michelle and I were interested in following in his footsteps because out of the 50 people nobody else was comfortable sitting on the side of the cliff with their feet dangling off and leaning over.

I could see how people become adrenaline junkies. We followed Joe from rock to rock and got down into crevices and nooks and sat looking down at the rocks and waves. Every time we got a little further out I could feel my heart beating a little faster and was reminded of my own mortality.

Next up, we visited a pub! On the way we met a rowdy group from a bachelor party! They were a fun time and when we stopped in the pub we all ordered a Guinness (because Ireland) and cheered to the Bachelor. It was a fun afternoon, followed by a quick stop at a chocolate factory.

 

The next day Renoli, Michelle and I went on a Game of Thrones tour in Northern Ireland! I am a big GoT fan so I was fangirl-ing a little bit whenever our guide pointed out scenes that were filmed where we were standing. It was such a cool experience!

 

More than anything I was appreciative of Northern Ireland’s stunning landscapes. It was absolutely beautiful and even writing about it makes me miss it, despite the fact that I was only there for a few short days. Sigh.

   

On our last day in Ireland we just tried to use all the time we had left in this wonderful country. So of course we went to a place called “Queen of Tarts” and had the most delicious lemon tart and chocolate chip cheese cake I have ever had in my entire life.

There were more of the incredible statues, a park on a sunny day, and St. Patrick’s cathedral.

I almost didn’t go in, but I’m so glad I did. I know Catholicism and Protestantism is one of the biggest sources of tension between the Irish people and I regret that any institution is capable of bringing so much pain and suffering to its followers, religion especially.. but for all the negative religion has provided the people of Ireland, it’s also offered something of a haven to some.

St. Patricks was a beautiful cathedral that honored the fallen Irish people throughout various wars and hardships. The art and architecture inside was absolutely beautiful. While I was there the choir was running through rehearsal so as I was sitting in a quiet chapel tucked in the back of the church I was listening to the sounds of gospel music and it echoed throughout the entire cathedral.

It was a perfect way to end my trip to Dublin. I absolutely fell in love with Ireland and I am dead set on making a return trip in the near future! Sorry for the ridiculously long post.. believe it or not this is the condensed version.

It was bittersweet leaving Dublin but I am happy to be back in Rome, where I’m having a much slower love affair, and to throw myself back into the Italian culture!

Evolution of Self

Sometimes I think I do this whole travel blog thing wrong. Does anybody really want to hear about the museums I went to? Or do they want to know that the night before I left for London I went out and met this really cool guy and stayed up until 3:30 am talking to him and then 20 minutes later got in a cab to go to the airport.

Is it important to know that I went to the London Tower or is it more significant to note that in my rush to spend a night out in Rome I left my walking shoes in Rome and walked around London and Dublin for 9 days in a pair of strappy sandals from target?

I feel like I’m growing so much from this entire traveling experience and not because I’m just learning about famous art, hearing new languages, or visiting x amount of museums every week. It’s because I just went 9 days wearing the same 2 jeans that now smell like death. It’s because I have survived on pasta and PB&J’s. Because I met the two coolest travel buddies who laughed when we missed our train and we ended up walking for 45 minutes in a random city in England trying to find another train station to get to the airport.

I kissed a strange Italian guy (sorry mom — there’s an honesty policy on here.), I met a bachelor party on a bus to the Cliffs of Moher and we stopped by a pub and grabbed a round of Guinness. I sat on the edge of a cliff and looked down at the waves crashing against the stone and felt small.

I ran in the rain because I forgot my stupid 2 euro umbrella. I looked at the Cliffs of Moher and marveled at how such a thing of beauty and size could coexist with everything else on this planet.

I can feel myself being challenged and the world demanding I finally look around me and do something. This whole trip – Rome, France, England, Ireland.. all of it – continues to ask me to do things I’m uncomfortable with.

It has been the scariest and happiest time of my life. For the first time in my 19 years here, I am absolutely present. I commented to Michelle the other day that I was in Ireland. And I felt as if I had been in Ireland my entire life. There was no London, there was no Rome. There wasn’t even a Florida to go back to. For those 3 days Ireland was all I had and I wasn’t thinking back to what I had gone through in London or what I would go home to when I got on a flight back to Italy. Finally, I have reached this point where I am absolutely in the moment.

Before I go back to posting about my daily adventures in random places, I just wanted to comment on the fact that in this past month alone I have felt myself really experience the world outside of what I’m comfortable with and I never knew it would be this liberating or this educational. I have loved every minute of it and I feel incredibly grateful to be here for  7 more weeks.

Good Bye London!

To start with Michelle and I knew we wanted to milk the last bit of our London pass for all it was worth so we went with the Kensington Palace, Tower of London, and the zoo.. And my Lord did we fit it all in.

 

The first stop was Tower of London. I would like to be able to gush about the place and rave about my experience there but the reality was that we just weren’t that into it. It was a large castle type place with walls enclosing it.. and yeah they had these great exhibits demonstrating what life must have looked like back in the day but to be honest I wasn’t really all too excited about it! I’m not sure if it was just because it was swarming with people or I put myself in a position where I had high expectations – But I just couldn’t enjoy the experience. In fact it took Michelle and I an hour to figure out how to get out because they only had one exit in one of the castles! But hey – I’m happy I tried it. It was good to realize what I do and don’t enjoy and I’ll remember that next time I try and plan a trip!

  

Next up was Kensington. Honestly I knew nothing about Kensington palace prior to going on the trip but I am so, so happy I was persuaded into making the trip. It was a rather far tube ride, taking us about 45 minutes to get there but when we arrived I felt like I was in another world. We started off walking down this street where all the international embassies were. We then entered into the garden/park where there were so many people just lounging around and soaking up that rare England sunshine. It was stunning. Immediately we felt at peace – we’d been feeling a little rushed because we were trying to fit in so many different activities and both of us were a little sweaty and a lot of frazzled. However once we walked into the Palace the receptionists were sweet and calm and immediately put us at ease.

 

 

The rooms were a muted pink and the carpet was so thick that although there were a number of people the noise level was muffled and it was such a peaceful atmosphere. Both of us just kind of floated through the whole experience in a state of calm and I loved seeing all the British people there to support their royalty. It’s such a fascinating part of their culture that I, as an American, will obviously never understand. I loved hearing little girls getting excited in the “dress” room and I don’t think I’ve ever appreciated the special place the royalty (especially modern royalty) has in the hearts of the English people.

  

 

So a somewhat random stop on our trip was the London zoo. Michelle and I just stumbled upon it in our booklet of free stops with the London Pass and we just decided we had a mutual interest in animals and it would be better than a stuffy castle or snapping a picture in front of Big Ben. So we went!

 

Ohmygod the zoo. It was incredible. I don’t remember the last time I went to a zoo but this place was so stinking awesome. It had GIANT gorillas, tigers, zebras, giraffes, and penguins! They had every type of animal you could want to see. I saw my first porcupine. No big deal.

The two highlights from my zoo adventure was
1)   I touched a donkey
2)   A butterfly landed on me in a butterfly garden

This was such a fun and unexpected stop during our London trip and I’m so happy I got the opportunity to go!

 

On our last full day in London we were set to go to Stonehenge at about 1 in the afternoon, leaving us with only half a day to venture out into the city.  So knowing this we slept in because we’d had a pretty fun wine night the evening before.

 

After we woke up and did our typical egg breakfast we headed over to the London Eye and went to Trafalgar Square. We had an absolute ball in Trafalgar Square watching tourists like ourselves trying to climb on top of the lion statues situated around the large monument.. and then we proceeded to climb on top and take pictures too. The hypocrisy.

And then we were off to one of the wonders of the world.

  

Remember when I mentioned expectations? Well Michelle, Renoli, and I decided it would be one of those things that we regretted if we didn’t see Stonehenge while we were England. To be perfectly honest my expectations didn’t even exist. I knew they were rocks. There’s no arguing that. I was paying a small fortune to see a pile of rocks. The logic just wasn’t there for me.

 

However when we got to the place I was absolutely blown away. It helped that I had the option for an audio tour and so before I even reached Stonehenge I knew about its history and significance – When we arrived a small part of me wanted to cry a little bit. I have never appreciated the size of this “pile of rocks” or the history behind it. It is a standing formation that is thousands of years old, and at some point in humanity’s time, people gathered in the very spot I was standing to partake in some ceremony or another that had importance to them. I’m not sure what it was but I felt a massive amount of respect for their genius for being able to assemble and create something of that scope and exactness (the rocks all aligned to be situated around the sun to create effects with shadows). We took our time and we laid out on the grass surrounding the rocks and learned about the culture of the people who built it. We learned about what must have gone into it, speculations on the meaning of the rocks, and just took in this giant, beautiful peace of humanity’s history.

It was one of the most stunning things I have ever seen and I could not be happier with this pile of rocks.

That night the USA was playing against Belgium.. Spoiler alert: we lost.

It was fun to go to an English pub with Michelle and Renoli as our last hurrah before we were off to London and I think one of my favorite moments was when a stranger at the bar thumbs upped me for ordering a Guinness. I think I must have made my dad proud in that moment.

After we left and cried a little bit about the state of the world, we headed back to our apartment.. and then we went for our last round of McDonalds. 20 nuggets, medium fries, and a large milkshake please.

 

 

The London Experience

I could live in  London. Aside from the fact that I paid 1 buck 80 for a pound, things could not have gone better! I’m a fan of the cold so the weather is ideal, I’m a fan of british men so the dating field is spot on, I’m even a fan of really cool museums and big cities so London may or may not be my perfect place.

The last 4 or 5 days have been some of the most fun in my life and I’m so happy to share my London half of my 9 day vacation!

To start with .. I thought Rome’s public transportation was confusing. Turns out 2 lines are a breeze compared to London’s million. By the end of the trip I can happily identify myself as a master of the tube system. On the first day we were utterly exhausted. Our bus was late pulling in, we struggled to find the apartment, and we were an hour late checking in. During all this time I was messaging my youth minister from Tampa who now lives back in England! 30 minutes after we settled in I had to brave the tube to go meet up with him! It was really great to catch up with him.. over my first English Guinness! It was a great evening and I was happy we were able to meet up.

I got back in the evening and the door to the apartment was locked and nobody was answering – Michelle and Renoli (my roommates) had fallen asleep and left me sitting outside in the freezing cold London air for an hour and a half. I was displeased. However once I finally got in by tailing behind another family staying in the apartment I passed out right alongside them. We woke up at around 2 am and for some reason we were craving some McDonalds. So at 2:30 in the sketchy streets of London we braved the cold to get a 20 nugget pack, fries, and a milkshake. Along the way we saw a drug deal go down, someone snort something at a bus stop, and a fox. Yup – this was my introduction to England!

That big pile of eggs? That quickly became our morning routine. We saved $$$ and got more protein in 4 days in London than we had in a month in Rome.

 

Our first full day in London was incredible! We stopped at Haagen Dazs for coffee and ice cream at approximately 8 a.m. When in England, amiright?

Then our group of 6 went by the National Gallery and saw some beautiful paintings. I’ve become accustomed to the statues of Italy so it was refreshing to see some paint for the first time in a month. I especially loved the National Gallery because it was heavy on the religious art, which I find to be the most interesting. I loved seeing the same scene depicted differently by different artists and I spent a lot of time just speculating on what must have been going on in the artists’ minds as they managed to convey something so intangible into something captured by paint on a canvas.

Afterward we split up (surprise!) because Michelle and I bought the London pass which granted us access to unlimited public transportation and free entry to all the “big” places in London. First up? Westminister Abbey.

So I’ve been in Rome for the past month. I thought I was immune to stunning churches and breathtaking architecture by now – Good thing I was wrong.T o start with I don’t think I’ve ever seen gothic style architecture and if I have, never like this. The church was incredibly calming to stand in and just be a part of for an hour. At some point there was an hourly prayer and it felt so nice to just take a moment out of all the craziness of this summer to stand in such a holy place and offer up a prayer with people from around the world.

I didn’t get any pictures because I’m super lame and boring but we went to something called the London Bridge Experience which was crazy. Take my word for it – It was one of the scariest haunted house experiences that managed to educate me on the London Bridge history and construction. No big deal.

Afterward Michelle and I stopped at a pub and I’m slowly learning to breathe deeply and just order a stinking drink. I don’t think I’ll ever be completely comfortable in a bar but hopefully there will come a day that I don’t break out in hives when a bartender asks me what I’ll have.

Our first real night in London saw pasta, McDonalds, and a healthy dose of sleep. We were absolutely exhausted.

There was a lot of discussion amongst the three roommates. How could we utilize all of our time in London to see the most attractions? Well of course we decide to visit caves an hour away from where we were staying!

Best. Decision. Ever. For starters, I got to take my first train in Europe which was pretty much a phenomenal experience because I felt a little like Harry Potter. Then we found ourselves in the sweetest town that had homes lining the streets and this tiny pub right next to where we were set to explore caves.

Once in the caves I immediately recognized how freaking cool the whole experience was going to be. It was freezing cold and we all had to carry lanterns to see in the caves since the lighting had been removed after the caves ceased to be used as World War II bunkers. Oh, did I mention the caves were dug out thousands of years ago by the Druids, Saxons, and Romans? No big deal.

They were used as bunkers during the World Wars and at one point housed over 15,000 people. My two favorite parts were touching a stone stage where The Who, Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, and countless other artists played during the time and sitting on an altar that was previously used to sacrifice children for the sun god as we sat in complete darkness as our guide banged on a druid drum. It was such an amazing trip and I’m happy we went there versus another museum or London-type attraction.

More cave adventures.

  

Afterward Michelle and I went on a British Navy ship, the BMS Belfast. It was fun to look at what life must have been like on a ship at the period in English history and once again I just mostly enjoyed the fact that I was able to share in another culture’s history after mostly just being exposed to my own culture’s stories and legends.

   

Since we were on a roll we then went to a small medical museum called the Old Operating Theater and Herb Garret located in an attic above a huge church. It was unique and gave me a whole new appreciation for modern medicine. It was once used as Florence Nightingale’s nursing school and is hundreds of years old!

We were in the neighborhood and heard about a small chapel outside of a medical college so we peeked our heads inside. This was a favorite little random moment of the trip I enjoyed because they had prayer intentions lined up and I was once again reminded of the universality of faith and how it moves people from all backgrounds. We quickly wrote our own prayer intentions and then we were off!

  

We went on the London Bridge Exhibition! So we got great views from the top of the bridge to end our day and we finished with some Chipotle, because we have our priorities straight.

 

That right there in the background? That’s McDonalds. Because it became a nightly event. We have been seriously missing our meat supply in Rome.

Those were just the first two days in London.. More to come in a separate post!

A week in pictures

I am keeping this as short as humanly possible so I can get straight to my adventures in London.. so here’s my past week in pictures!

Left: I have blunt cut bangs. This is me growing them out. The crazy happenings in Rome, people.
Middle: My oral presentation in Italian was on Thursday and my professor interrupted me to tell me I should really look up when I speak Italian. Yeahnothankyou.
Right: I went to watch the Italians play in the World Cup! It was a sad day in Rome after the match ended.

  

Left: A nifty looking piece of history at the Colosseum
Middle: The Arch of Titus in the Roman Forum
Right: Let’s take a moment to appreciate the fact that one of the students kicked in a door as a prank, on accident, and tried to cover it up with duct tape. Let’s all take bets to see how long that takes to back fire.

 

Left: Meet Jacob and Renoli. This is us bonding on our return from the soccer match.
Right: My second trip to the Colosseum in a week – It was just as great the second time.

Left: Remnants of the Roman Forum
Right: More ruins

Left: Definitely a huge highlight of the week! Accidentally finding a huge music festival in  Piazza del Popolo with Jacob and Renoli
Middle: The concert was HUGE and had amazing live artists
Right: Highlight of my night? Watching the Italians dance.

Middle: Back to my happy vibes book from France – I really liked this week’s reading on taking ownership and responsibility for where you are at in your life! You’re the only person in charge of your own happiness.
Right: Libraries will always be my go to place no matter which country I’m in. This is my dorm’s library and I spent a lot of my week down here just studying, reading, and catching up on travel planning.

 

Left: You can’t really tell from the picture but good Lord did it pour this week. Super dreary but that’s okay because…
Middle: At our good bye dinner for half of our program who is leaving, we had an unlimited supply of Coca Cola! I filled up my wine glass with coke and declared it to be a great night.
Right: The restaurant we were in was the typical Italian place with guys on the walls with mustaches. No big.

Left: These super great guys I met at Campo di Fiori one night.. an hour before my flight left for London. When in Rome?
Right: Mercedes and Michelle. This picture is our relationship.

 

Left: Bitter sweet about this picture. This was our group for first session and half of the kids are leaving because they run on a different calendar than we do.. Next week we get a new group of students and I was sad to see these guys go.

This week was an incredible mix of new memories, new people, and old history! I can’t wait to share all about my 9 day vacation to London and Dublin!

Ugly Americans

So I’m absolutely rushing through these next two posts because I’m in LONDON, ENGLAND and I can’t wait to share all this trip’s adventures! So in no particular order here is a recount of my parents’ stop in Rome last weekend.

 

Here are a couple pictures from the Colosseum from when the ‘rents were visiting. I was really surprised by the size – the pictures had led me to believe the place was gigantic but when I actually got there it wasn’t nearly as big as I’d had in mind.. like as big as The Swamp. That being said the sheer history that took place there was incredible. It was both horrifying and unbelievable that the games (aka battles) lasted for hundreds of years before they were halted. I am thrilled that as each generation grows we are less and less satisfied with our quality of education/entertainment/politics and feel the need to change it as every new generation comes into power.

  

Afterward we went to Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum and whoa dang. It took me right back to Pompeii. I loved seeing the ruins because it was definitely a flash back to the past. I also loved that during all of these trips I was visiting with my parents! After so long in Rome on my own it was nice to give up the reigns and let the ‘rents pick the time and place. No complaints on that end.

   

After that my dad took up a modeling career. This is him featured in the top left with a classic cowboy hat,  chic shorts, and a pose Tyra Banks would kill for. Ladies and gentleman, I introduce Dave.

In all seriousness we went to a really great museum that I can’t remember the name to. Which is pretty typical. All I know is I was that person who didn’t see the sign to turn off the cameras.. but I kind of can’t even regret it because I captured a shot of the Michaelangelo’s Cristo della Minerva which I really enjoyed.

    

I think these two pictures deserve their own caption.
Day 2 or something we go out for dinner. I’m excited, right? Parents finally come to town which means I can eat for the first time in weeks. My dear mother who at some point in my life valued the safety of her children had us walk to Travestere. For those of you unfamiliar with the Rome geography, Travestere is its own stinkin’ district. Long story short we walked the wrong way on a highway and almost died. Seriously, no big deal. I promise.

We finally found a restaurant and went straight in. Mind you this was not a place for tourists. The gentleman taking our order really didn’t understand too much of what we were saying. I think okay no big deal, I’ll go for the pizza. Problem is I think maybe I was a little shaken up from the near death experience because I see “pizzicheria” and think YUP that’s pizza for sure. I’ll take the formaggio. I’m so cultured.

30 minutes later, I’m dying of hunger, the wine is gone, and I had made a hike just to get there. Out comes our food and on my plate, 4 pieces of cheese. Yes. I ordered cheese for dinner. The shock was overwhelming but I had no choice but to enjoy it because the manager looked so proud of me that I felt like I was overcoming cultural divides with these 4 pieces of cheese.

So I ate with gusto and that was my story with the cheese.

 

This is mom, dad and I practicing our serious time in front of the Vatican. This is a sarcophagus we saw in the National Museum of Rome.

   

I have never done so much in one weekend. One of the better places we visited was the National Museum of Rome. I feel like at some point I’m probably going to become desensitized to all the statues I see (I mean come on, how many different ways can you sculpt an old dude), but for now I’m still on that statue high.

I loved visiting the place and it’s one of those things that if I hadn’t had my parents along I probably wouldn’t have made time for it!

One day we went to two churches. I’m going to be embarrassing and wait to say the names of them until I can text my mother and ask for a reminder.

Either way we saw the really great Bernini sculpture of St. Teresa of Avalon. A lot of the time here I get frustrated with my lack of knowledge of art, religion, or politics of the day. This was an exciting sculpture to see because I had a background understanding of who St. Teresa of Avalon was, I read the Dan Brown book where it mentioned the sculpture, and I had previously read up on what the significance of the sculpture was. It definitely made the viewing process a lot more enjoyable.

 

The ‘rents and I at the Eatery. Need I say more?

  

To wrap up the wonderful weekend with my parents we randomly took the metro one evening and my mom decided to pick the San Giovani stop to find us some dinner. After we spot a pizza joint we look across the street and see a massive building. We saw a couple people coming out so we decided to check it out.

I’m so glad we did. It’s called the Basilica of St. John Lateran and we found out after our visit that it’s actually considered to be the highest ranking basilica above all others in the Roman Catholic church. The fact that we casually stumbled into this just goes to show how incredibly unique Rome is turning out to be!

It was a magnificent basilica with every nook and cranny stuffed with some form of art or another. The ceilings were ornate, the walls had niches crammed with statues, and every other foot was a chapel tucked away into a little cubby. It was absolutely stunning and I was so glad to see it!

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Throughout the weekend, every time my parents or I would do something outrageously embarrassing, my dad would hiss “ugly Americans”, just to really solidify our rank as the lowliest amongst all the countries. Every time my mom whipped out the map with expert skill and ease, my dad would whisper “ugly Americans”. If I complained about my dad’s cowboy hat, UA. If I forgot how to ask for the check in Italian, UA. If I pushed a door instead of pulled it, UA. At every point we were committing some serious cultural no-nos but it was humbling to recognize that I really can’t “unamericanize” myself. I can do everything in my power to assimilate to another culture and respect the place I’m in, but at the end of the day I probably laugh a little too loudly, my map probably crinkles a lot when I open it, and I’m sure my excitement over gelato and coke is offensive to someone somewhere.. But that’s okay. So hey, here’s to the rest of my life as a proud, ugly American.

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My weekend was made so much better just with the presence of my parents. I’ve definitely missed my American culture and a lot of us have just adapted here and done our best to “fit in”. Having my parents come made me feel like it was my first time in Rome and I was happy to be able to experience a part of Europe with them. It was pretty great.

Tomorrow I need to put up pictures from last week so I can fast forward to my current trip to London and Dublin! Stay tuned for more of my travel adventures!

 

My Monday to Thursday job

Getting off that France high wasn’t really much of a challenge when I got to jump right back into all the fun happening in Rome.

I am sitting here going back through my pictures from last week and I am continuously awed by the sheer amount of history and life here in Rome. I was speaking with my mom last night (more about the ‘rents in a later post!) and I was saying how much I love being surrounded by people. Every day there are kids, puppies, older couples, and young business-y type people walking the streets of Rome. It definitely makes you feel guilty if you allow yourself to be cooped up inside all day because you just know there are people  seeing something cool and exciting right outside your window!

Anyway.. Here is my “typical” Monday – Thursday

   

First up.. My Monday adventure back to the hospital! I had to go get my booty problems all cleared up so after missing my bus stop and waiting for 2 hours, I finally got to see a doctor and he gave me the all clear!

Earlier that day I had a quiz to study for so my friend Mercedes, Michelle and I walked 10 minutes to Piazza Cavore where we all studied for our various classes. It was a beautiful day with birds chirping, dogs barking, and kids screeching at the top of their lungs. My favorite.

The picture in the middle is my face of joy when I realized I’m never going to conquer Italian. We must have sat out there for 20 minutes slowly panicking over our lack of Italian and just praying our teacher, Ms Ipolita, didn’t come over and quiz us.

Tuesday was something of a blur.. really the most important part of Tuesday was when I finally watched an episode of Game of Thrones and captured this stunning smile on Arya’s face. Arya doesn’t smile. This was maybe the highlight of my Tuesday — I don’t even feel bad.

WEDNESDAY DOE. We started off the day going to Galleria Borghese with the program I’m with. This is one of those museums all the guide books say to do and it was absolutely filled to the brim with sculptures and stunning artwork. During our walk to the gallery we passed through Piazza del Popolo and had a great view of Rome once we reached the top at Villa Borghese, a huge park in the middle of Rome.

Once in the museum I quickly established that my favorite sculpture was The Rape of Persephone. I was blown away by the life like quality of the marble and where Hades hands dug into Persephones thigh it looked like her skin was actually stretching out. It was absolutely remarkable and I enjoyed the minor fact that I recognized enough of ancient mythology to understand what was being illustrated.

  

We continued through the halls of the gallery and seeing all the paintings and sculptures gave me a huge appreciation for the patience and creativity of the artists back in the day. It definitely saddens me that up until this trip I had no preference one way or another for art. However after being in Rome for even just 3 weeks I am definitely being challenged to reevaluate my previous attitude toward art!

After our trip to Galleria Borghese my Italian teacher took us to Eataly to identify all the different food types in Italian! Whoa man, Eataly is big. They had every food group you could possibly think up and it was 4 floors of a foody’s heaven.

I mentioned my new obsession with brie but I think I’m expanding my addition to encompass all types of cheese. I about died when I found the “formaggio” section of the place.

Thursday was hands down my favorite day this whole week. My priest from Tampa, Florida was in town. Yup, he just swung by Rome before he jetted off to a bunch of other countries in Europe. He knew I would be studying here this summer so he invited me to celebrate a private Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica. Wow.

I actually didn’t take any pictures because I wasn’t really there for the scenery aspect, more just for the Mass but take my word that it was beautiful. I did figure I should take a picture as I was leaving St. Peters but there are definitely more to come when I go back!

We celebrated Mass in one of the side chapels within the Basilica itself. Before we actually made it to Mass though my priest invited me back into the Sacristy which was one of the coolest things I’ve seen in my short time here in Rome! It was quiet because it closed off to the public but you could hear the slight murmurs coming from priests all around the room as they prepared to deliver mass in various chapels. We were also led back into a room not opened to the public and I wish I could recall the name of it. We walked in and it was empty. It was dead silent and also one of the most beautiful rooms I’ve ever been in. The ceiling was ornately decorated and there were seats around what appeared to be some kind of altar or another. I was informed that there are priests who live in Rome and their full time job is to go in this room every day and pray.

After the quick tour of the room and Sacristy we went and celebrated mass. It was so, so lovely to hear Mass in my native tongue and from a priest I admire and know.

After Mass I headed over to Villa Borghese. I knew from Wednesday that the park was massive and I wanted to explore it a little more.

I got lost. That was to be expected but I was definitely a little surprised by just how big it really was. I ended up finding a map and wandered around. This park has everything. I found a lake, a dog park, and a fountain where I read my book for a few hours. There were musicians, go carts, segways, bikes, and trolleys. There were restaurants, museums, and casinos.. And I’m not kidding when I say I could spend the rest of my summer just in that park and be completely satisfied.

 

I could not think of a better way to spend a Thursday before Italian class.

It was an amazing week and one filled with new discoveries and a lot of fun. Friday is when my parents stopped by Rome to start off their 3 week adventure in Europe and we had a great time! More to come on that later.

Day 4 – Rocks in the French Riviera

Here are just a handful of pictures from our last day in France!

So much sadness that this was our last day! We woke up pretty late and decided to take one last walk around Nice and then we headed over to the beach! The night before I had learned to skip rocks so we spent longer than I’d care to admit playing with rocks and trying for that ultimate triple hop skip.

The beach had rock in lieu of sand so after I passed out I woke up with rock branding on my leg. Pretty cool if ya ask me.

 

I also decided to forget my sunscreen so the whole weekend was a blur of red and white. I’m hardcore Irish and my skin behaved accordingly. I had the worst burn on my back after I fell asleep on the beach and I’m still peeling, a week later.

Alison caught an earlier flight out of Nice because she had an exam she needed to study for.. which ended up being the best decision because our flight was delayed for 3+ hours!

Going to Nice was one of the most exciting travel adventures for me thus far – we planned the trip, paid, and then got to go on it! It was so rewarding to see everything come together. I think my biggest take away from this whole trip was that when things look like they aren’t going according to plan (a train strike, a rainy day, a flight delay) you just need to improvise and move on. It was the best possible trip and all the “accidents” that could have made the experience less enjoyable were easily overlooked because ya know. We were in France.

Day 3 – Aussies and Arkansas

Day 3 was filled with exploring, art, and strangers!

So once again we found ourselves splitting off into groups of 2 on this trip! Michelle and I are the sleep inners so we got a bit of a late start on day 3 and headed out at around 10. We went out into the streets hoping to find something going on that day and for me to be able to buy a beautiful tapestry I had spotted the day before.. Only one of those happened.

We found a book festival! Anyone who knows me knows that I love reading and despite the fact that the books were obviously all in French it was so cute to see how the festival was set up. I forget the name of the the whole project but the festival had 3 locations around Nice and Michelle and I ended up finding all of them which was really exciting. My favorite of the three locations was the children’s section. There were tons of kids running around and the illustrations in the books were beautiful. It was the perfect way to start off our morning!

 

After looking around in the morning at the festival and wandering around we stopped by the flower market to pick up some fruit and we found the third festival location. We spotted an english book pile and I purchased the book shown above. I think I’ve mentioned before but I love those feel good, inspiring books and this book has daily thoughts and reflections on how to live life positively. I loved that it was secondhand and that I was able to bring it back from France! So nifty.

Then we met up with the other two girls, Alison and Uyen and WE FOUND MEAT. Seriously our biggest struggle in Rome is finding meat. At the airport on our way to France when we stopped at the McDonalds I felt like i was at the US Embassy. I really, really miss my hamburgers. We all thoroughly enjoyed our lunchtime because it was the first time in a long time I got to eat some protein!

  

Just look how excited we are with all that burger and fries.

After lunch we found a flea market that only sets up in the big plaza once a month! There was a huge collection of random finds and antiques and I loved looking at all the different shops set up. It started to drizzle so we went inside a huge contemporary art museum that was free to the public!

 

I have never been huge on contemporary art, mainly because I find it really hard to understand. To me the paintings and the sculptures are much easier to admire and think about because its recognizable and you know somewhat how to evaluate what you’re looking at.. not so much with contemporary art. The minute I walked in I was immediately overstimulated. There was so much color, texture, and size that I didn’t even know how to tackle the first room.

But about 5 minutes in Michelle and I started to verbally analyze every piece we looked at which made looking at the art that much easier and enjoyable.

Sorry about the shadow in the top left picture but
1. It’s in English. I about threw a party.
2. I love what it says. (“AIDS. You can’t catch it holding hands.) And I really enjoyed everything else the artist painted and created.

The other two guys up there were just weird and fun to look at. Again, I had no clue what I was looking at but boy was it fun to make up some crazy guesses with my friends.

Alison and Uyen found the jackpot! At the top of the Museum (gallery?) there was a door to get outside where you had a bird’s eye view of Nice. It was pretty gloomy out, unfortunately, but it didn’t take away too much from the phenomenal scenery. We stood out there for about 20 minutes just taking it all in. Nice is by far one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been privileged to visit.

So I’ve never stayed in a hostel before. I definitely envisioned a hole in the wall, dirty, unhygienic atmosphere going into this whole situation. Luckily my low standard set me up for a big ball of happiness when I went into a nice little dorm room with comfortable beds and a bathroom that accommodated for 8, which ended up not being too bad.

Hands down one of my favorite experiences of the entire trip was meeting people from all over the place. Our hostel in particular was packed. Remember those train strikes I mentioned earlier? Well the local trains would pick up again at 3 pm but the long distance ones were completely shut down. People were quite literally stuck in Nice so the hostel was overflowing with travelers who hadn’t intended on staying and new travelers who were just arriving. So the common room and kitchen was standing room only.

When we got back a few of us ended up making spaghetti in the kitchen and while we were downstairs we got to meet some guys from Sweden who told us it was quite typical to graduate from high school and then pick up any go travel until they figured out their college situation and wait until they were admitted. We met some Canadians who were out backpacking for the summer. We met a really cool girl from California who has a job lined up when she gets back but is traveling in between school and work. We talked to all kinds of people from all types of backgrounds. My favorite thing? Not a single person came into it stressed about what was waiting for them on the other side. We met people who had already been working and took time off or who were in between jobs. We met students. We met graduates who were trying to figure out what they wanted to do. We met people from all different walks of life and I just really loved hearing people doing something that’s commonly referred to as a “pipe dream” or impossible.

That night Michelle and I ended up going to the beach with two of the guys who were staying in our room. A 19 year old from Australia and a stand up comedian from Arkansas. Mom, before you freak out the kid from Australia was reading a Dan Brown novel for most of the day and the guy from Arkansas has a website.. So they check out. It was so fun. We had some good conversation about education and policies in Australia that I never really knew about and we talked with the guy from Arkansas about his travel plans and what it’s like to work in such a tough industry.

All together it was an awesome experience and I look forward to more trips that enable me to meet awesome people and make these kinds of memories.