it's too cliche to entitle this 'roman holiday'...

this is the beginning of the tale of my italian adventures. i don’t think you know my travel buddy lauren. but let me introduce you. lauren & i were never really that close throughout school, but we ended up sitting together in lectures the last go around. this was because everyone was placed with their outreach groups. we bonded over our love for the hunger games, which we both happened to be reading at the same time. we would sit at our desks reading during breaks & freak out about things together. on outreach, we stayed at the same house & we on the same team. we were discussing our plans for break one day & we were in the same group that was going to spain. she voiced her desire to go to italy & i was all for it. there was supposed to be another girl travelling with us, but due to a visa situation, she couldn’t leave the country. & thus began our trip to the beautiful country of italy…

rome was the first stop on our adventure. our plane landed around midday. i knew the name of our hostel but for some reason, i hadn’t made note of the address or anything that would help us find it. we searched the airport desperately for wi-fi so i could check my email, but there was nothing. finally, we found an internet station by a mcdonald’s. i was sitting at the table waiting for some else to finish using it while lauren went to get food & i was so stressed out & ready to break down. so, i pulled out my bible, looking for something to calm me down. i had been reading one of the gospels & it just hit me-- this was the same bible i had read while sunbathing in spain. the same bible i had studied at capernwray. the same bible that i had occasionally picked up back home. this was the same bible & God is still the same God. such a comfort! i managed to get onto the internet & find the address of our hostel. we found reasonably priced transport in the form of a shuttle bus. it was us & a group of four other adults. it was all completely legit, but being two females travelling alone, we were sure that he was going to kidnap us & sell us into slavery. why did we think this? ‘oh my gosh, he didn’t ask where to take us… sir, do you know where we’re going?’ ‘si, via milazzo.’ ‘oh! yeah, actually…’ the people at the desk gave him the information. go figure. it didn’t stop me from praying for our safety. in my head, ‘why does he keep looking at me in his rearview mirror??? my gosh, HE WANTS TO KIDNAP ME. try to look as unattractive as possible… oh, maybe he’s looking at me because i’m staring him down like a lunatic… i’m tired. i want to sleep. BUT SLEEPING LEAVES ME VULNERABLE.’ *sunglasses on* ‘now i feel powerful.’ i could say this lunacy was all due to lack of sleep, but this is honestly the way my mind works.

we arrived at our hostel & the entrance totally sketched us out at first but reception was nice. we started getting all checked in & when it can time to pay… ‘cash only please.’ are you serious? i checked all the hostels about paying with a card except for this one. after the table breaking debacle, i was down 50 euros. i was short about twenty & then that was the end of my cash. she let us store our luggage & we left, not knowing how we were going to acquire sufficient cash. we soon discovered how forward & offensive italian men can be. we got whistles & ‘ciao, bellas’ & kissy sounds. & this was when we were rocking travel hair & lacking make-up. we were stopping traffic… we found an internet place & we contacted those superheroes we like to call ‘moms’. we managed to get the cash & were able to get into our room. this place was a hostel but we were fortunate enough to get a private double room, so it was more like a hotel. we crashed on our beds, made use of the free wi-fi & were both asleep by approximately six p.m. we proceeded to sleep until nine the next morning. that’s a lot of sleep. & boy, did we need it.

we rolled, fell, stumbled out of bed & got ourselves out the door by noon-ish. first, we made our way to the colosseum, thanks to my amazing map skills. it was insane. you learn about these things in history class & then seeing them in person… it’s unreal. after marveling at that wonder & trying to take pictures of the men dressed as roman soldiers without having to pay, 

we proceeded to the trevi fountain. we got there & it was so crowded. we found ourselves a spot & got someone to take our picture as we threw our coins over our shoulders & into the fountain. it was a little bit like the movies. {we both had the lizzie mcguire movie song running through our heads the whole time} i checked our map & saw that we weren’t far from the pantheon. 

we found it. 

we saw it. 

it was awesome. after that, we decided it was best that we get back to our hostel before dark. i will admit that scenes from the movie ‘taken’ ran through my head more than once. better paranoid than sorry, i believe the saying goes… on our way back, since it wasn’t actually dark yet, we stopped for coffee. & man, was it good. i had felt not so hot the whole day because i hadn’t had coffee for the last few days. somehow i was spared from a killer migraine that i can only assume was waiting for the perfect moment to attack. we sat & drank good coffee 

 talked about God & life for an hour. it was awesome. that night as i was reviewing the pictures from that day, i came to a sudden realization. we had been to the trevi fountain. we had thrown coins into said fountain. but i forgot to make a wish. i burst into laughter & between giggles i explained to lauren what was so funny. it turns out, she forgot too. we were both so focused on getting a picture & throwing the coins that we actually forgot to make wishes. unbelievable. within a minute of this realization, my grandma messaged me asking if i had made a wish. such funny timing.

on our third day in rome, we went to the vatican city. we hadn’t researched it very much so we just took the metro & followed the signs when we got there. at the vatican museum, we were shocked to find that it cost 15 euro. we decided to do it anyway & i’m so glad we did. we had no idea that the vatican  museum i fact contained the sistine chapel & many other beautiful things. like, seriously gorgeous things. my neck quickly became sore from all of the looking up i did at the gloriously magnificent ceilings. & i’m not just talking about the sistine chapel. every inch of ceiling was amazing.

another thing i didn’t know about the sistine chapel is that you aren’t allowed to take pictures. the security guards that day were not having it. they cracked down on every tourist they saw wielding a camera. i was too timid to even try. whenever they shouted “NO PHOTO” at anyone, everyone looked & it was awkward.
every five minutes or so, when the tourists became too loud, there was a loud “SHHHHHHHHHH, SILENCE PLEASE.” somewhat reminiscent of the voice of God, mostly because i was in a chapel. my camera was hanging around my neck, so i managed to capture a few gems...

sistine chapel... trust me.

upon exiting the museum, we decided it was time for some gelato. when in rome….

GELATO 4 DAYZ

after some wrong directions on my part & some helpful directions on a local’s part, we found ourselves at st. peter’s basilica. the line was long & we weren’t sure if it cost, but what the heck? we were there. we finally got to the entrance & it didn’t cost a thing. fortunately, i had researched the required dress code since i had heard of people being turned away for not being covered up. we were modest enough & had the pleasure of seeing that incredible place. i was admiring the sheer beauty when all of the sudden i heard singing. some sort of mass was occurring at that time & it was echoing throughout the basilica. i think i cried, it was so beautiful. i was surprised that cameras were allowed, but i’m glad they were. my little camera doesn’t do this place justice.

after that we went into a free exhibit called ‘the word of God’ or something to that effect. there were all these really old scrolls & bibles & such. there was a man who had this big, old-fashioned printing press thing. we got to make prints that were in hebrew, i think. they were first samuel 25 & 26. they were really great & i wanted to keep it but the ink would not dry & we got tired of having to carry them around carefully. we took pictures with them, then dumped them in the nearest garbage.

for our last full day in rome, we started the day off right at our favourite coffee place. then we returned to the trevi fountain again. it just wasn’t right that we hadn’t made wishes. we did it up right this time. i wished… nevermind. i can’t tell you what i wished or it won’t come true. we didn’t really know what to do after that, but i saw on our helpful little map that the piazza navona wasn’t far. i didn’t actually know what it was but i had heard of it before & it sounded promising. it was so worth going. it’s gorgeous & it’s like a market place with people selling paintings & the like. we had planned to have a nice meal & this was the place for it. we chose a restaurant & got pizza. & we got limoncellos. now, i know this is an alcoholic drink & that’s a bit taboo, but our friend who had been to italy before had implored us to try it, so we did. we expected a fruity drink for lightweights, but that was NOT what we got. they were tiny & they were strong. like, STRONG. like, the kind of thing of which you can only take small sips. we tried to drink them, since we had paid good money, but we couldn’t do it. we left our glasses looking like they hadn’t been touched. the waiter looked a little offended when he asked if we didn’t like the drinks. sorry, bro. it made my throat burn & my eyes water. but thanks for the pizza. we followed up that meal with gelato, as you do. the woman who served us looked & talked like she was going to kill someone. it was kind of scary. chocolate & pistachio quickly became our go-to flavours. best combo since barbecue sauce &… everything. we enjoyed some street performers, such as the old man lip-synching to elvis. when i say lip-syncing, i mean moving his mouth, clearly not knowing the words at all & yelling when anyone got too close. it was odd. there was also the man dressed up as a storm trooper playing the… something. also, albert einstein hand dancing. 

we gave him some money & he did a special performance dedicated to us. it was touching.

& with that, our last full day in rome came to a close.

i just got really impatient with adding photos to these posts. the formatting is all weird & you can refer to my facebook to see all of pictures in the near future. i'm pretty sure i'm forgetting a lot of what went down so i'd better get on documenting the rest of our trip. &&&&&&&&&&& that's all.
the end.

spain, part II

we spent the rest of spain relaxing & sunbathing. we went karaoking in the town where we were staying. it was so much fun. some of our number have absolutely no shame. i believe this is required for doing karaoke. the locals were definitely laughing at us. i went into barcelona one other time on the sunday. some of our group was going to a football game so we all went into town, then jenna & shannon & i just walked around town some more. we found a reasonably priced restaurant & had tapas & paella. i think i was dehydrated or something because i had started to feel ridiculously sick. i could hardly eat my food & i felt like vomiting. it was so awful. i tried drinking more water but nothing helped. we found a really terrific street market full of amazing antiques but due to my weakened state, i found a nearby bench & took a nap instead. we then went to the the barcelona cathedral. jenna said that she would only go in if it cost less than five euros. it cost six. however, i was determined so i told them i’d meet them outside in an hour. it was so, so beautiful. there was a gorgeous courtyard in the middle & the cathedral was amazing. 

it was so worth the price. i spent twenty minutes in the prayer chapel. after that, i started feeling better & by the time i was out, i felt fine. wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles. :) i didn’t see them when i first walked out so i walked around the cathedral & it was like a scene from a movie. the presence of street performances gave the impression that my life had a soundtrack. dream come true.

the next day was spent laying out in the sun, doing nothing at all. it was the best. that night, disaster struck. now, we had all had to give a total of 1000 euros for the deposit, but vladimir had thought that we seemed like a sane enough bunch, so he only took half of it. but on our very last night, we were sitting around the table eating dinner in a calm manner when my friend leaned forward on the glass tabletop & BOOM. that thing cracked. he was sitting near the end & the table must’ve just been really weak. the whole end fully broke off & a few dishes went down with it. there was really nothing we could do so we just cleaned it up & laughed. seriously, what are the odds of this happening on our very last night? suffice it to say, we didn’t get the deposit back. that night, we were all up late. no one wanted to go to bed because for some of us it meant saying goodbye to people. at about three in the morning, i fell into bed for a few hours. we left the house at about five. we made our nine o’clock flight & could hardly see straight because we were so tired. coming soon is the next chapter of our adventure.

some random things that i forgot to include in the last post.

1.) we had a talent show at the end of school. our school is just full of winners. there was dancing. there was singing. there was more singing. there was more dancing. there was vomiting {don't ask}. there was... i don't remember what else there was. it was a while ago...

2.) in dublin, we were trying to figure out how to get somewhere with our map & james says, "where is the 'you are here' on the map?"  like it's a harry potter map that magically knows your location. i laughed so hard i nearly wet myself.

3.) i don't know how i forgot about our trip to york. for our last day trip we went to york. it's a lovely place. we  checked out charity shops. i saw a sign for a vintage market. i practically ran to it. i was overwhelmed with all the vintage clothing. so much good. 

'kay. i think that's all. tune in for my next post when i tell you about our roman holiday. 

the end.