We awoke early Tuesday morning and headed to what was once the center of the world: ROMA. Instead of taking the private transportation that we were quite used to, we all had to pack up our luggage and head to the train station.
Okay let's start off with a short story. It has a good lesson, I promise. SO. When you travel by yourself, weighing 120 pounds and having a height of 5'2 it's not exactly the best thing ever if you struggle to carry your luggage. Why? BECAUSE DADDY ISN'T THERE TO HELP. Haha shocker, right? Before we go any further, find your iTunes or YouTube and listen to Supergirl by Saving Jane as you read this next part. Haha it's my theme song for what happened next.
I had been un-packing and re-packing my luggage the entire time we were in Milan because I literally needed everything to fit. Which luckily, it did fit. HOWEVER, hauling it down the stairs, through the train station and through the streets was literally painful and difficult. I like to think I'm pretty strong, you know I lift weights on a daily basis etc. but man. This was difficult. It's like if you're trained to run a marathon but end up competing in the Tour de France. Like what the hell happened?! Haha. So picture me (little me) carrying my luggage, like a big girl, in a maxi dress, while getting man hands in the process from hanging on to the handles of my bags. So it's not a joke when people say, "Make sure you can carry your own luggage." Like, it's serious haha, I attest to it 100%.
ANYWAYS, despite the few struggles of climbing stairs and walking at the speed of light trying not to trip, we made it to our dock at the train station.
Our tour guide, Alexandra was literally SO sweet and got us all departure gifts. She gave our professors bottles of wine and Each of the girls these beautiful purple woven bracelets (WOO go Lumberjacks).
We bid our farewells, which was rather hard. In the Latin culture, no matter how much time you spend with a person, when there is no language barrier, you accept someone else as if they were your own family. Which is what happened with Alexandra -- she was sooo similar to my mom, it was hard for me not to feel attached. She's a blessing to everyone she met, and her son was lucky to have such a caring and loving mother. Just as I'm blessed to have my Mom as MY mom (if you've met my Mom, then you know I'm right).
We boarded the train and we were off to our last adventure, which was a bittersweet moment. I wasn't quite ready for this trip to be over. After 3 hours, we arrived in the BEAUTIFUL PERFECT ANCIENT city of Rome <3
We were dropped off a few blocks from our hotel, where we met with our next tour guide who would take us to our hotel. We unloaded the bus and began walking. It was the first time that it had been HOT. Not anywhere near Texas heat, but going from rain and wind to heat is a little hard haha. Upon arrival to our hotel, we had a surprise. BAM. Our professors had gotten lost. *Face-palm*. To be honest, this happened a lot and it was funny and frustrating. All 9 of us stood in the lobby cracking jokes while our tour guide went out to find them. After waiting for 20 long minutes, they arrived and we were able to check in and head out for our walking tour with a super comical and lovely lady named Ilyaria (Latin version of Hilary, just by the way).
She took us by a building that still had original bullets from a shooting done by the Nazi's when they invaded Rome and explained the Italian's role in World War 2. I just think it's extremely interesting to hear the way other countries learned about the same wars we participated in and how different the perspectives are.
Well anyways, we ventured off and our second stop was a LOCAL (meaning not tourist) gelato shop. Yes, that's right. GELATO. Like the real deal that doesn't melt and is absolutely amazing and can easily eat a gallon of.
We snacked as we continued on onto the first monumental stop. La Fontanna de Trevi (which by your context clues should know that that means Trevi Fountain). YES. Like THE Trevi Fountain, the same one that Hilary Duff made her wish in in the Lizzy McGuire movie and then met her pop-star lover who turned out to be an idiot. But that's besides the point.
Just a little background on the Trevi Fountain: American's like to think that the wish you make in this fountain can be anywhere from wishing for divorce to wishing for love and fortune haha. But in reality, there's two parts to the wish. The first is that you wish to come back to Rome and the second is something significant. You throw in ONE coin, not three, and hold it in your left hand and throw it over your right shoulder and DON'T look at the coin after you throw it.
Okay let's start off with a short story. It has a good lesson, I promise. SO. When you travel by yourself, weighing 120 pounds and having a height of 5'2 it's not exactly the best thing ever if you struggle to carry your luggage. Why? BECAUSE DADDY ISN'T THERE TO HELP. Haha shocker, right? Before we go any further, find your iTunes or YouTube and listen to Supergirl by Saving Jane as you read this next part. Haha it's my theme song for what happened next.
I had been un-packing and re-packing my luggage the entire time we were in Milan because I literally needed everything to fit. Which luckily, it did fit. HOWEVER, hauling it down the stairs, through the train station and through the streets was literally painful and difficult. I like to think I'm pretty strong, you know I lift weights on a daily basis etc. but man. This was difficult. It's like if you're trained to run a marathon but end up competing in the Tour de France. Like what the hell happened?! Haha. So picture me (little me) carrying my luggage, like a big girl, in a maxi dress, while getting man hands in the process from hanging on to the handles of my bags. So it's not a joke when people say, "Make sure you can carry your own luggage." Like, it's serious haha, I attest to it 100%.
ANYWAYS, despite the few struggles of climbing stairs and walking at the speed of light trying not to trip, we made it to our dock at the train station.
Our tour guide, Alexandra was literally SO sweet and got us all departure gifts. She gave our professors bottles of wine and Each of the girls these beautiful purple woven bracelets (WOO go Lumberjacks).
We bid our farewells, which was rather hard. In the Latin culture, no matter how much time you spend with a person, when there is no language barrier, you accept someone else as if they were your own family. Which is what happened with Alexandra -- she was sooo similar to my mom, it was hard for me not to feel attached. She's a blessing to everyone she met, and her son was lucky to have such a caring and loving mother. Just as I'm blessed to have my Mom as MY mom (if you've met my Mom, then you know I'm right).
We boarded the train and we were off to our last adventure, which was a bittersweet moment. I wasn't quite ready for this trip to be over. After 3 hours, we arrived in the BEAUTIFUL PERFECT ANCIENT city of Rome <3
We were dropped off a few blocks from our hotel, where we met with our next tour guide who would take us to our hotel. We unloaded the bus and began walking. It was the first time that it had been HOT. Not anywhere near Texas heat, but going from rain and wind to heat is a little hard haha. Upon arrival to our hotel, we had a surprise. BAM. Our professors had gotten lost. *Face-palm*. To be honest, this happened a lot and it was funny and frustrating. All 9 of us stood in the lobby cracking jokes while our tour guide went out to find them. After waiting for 20 long minutes, they arrived and we were able to check in and head out for our walking tour with a super comical and lovely lady named Ilyaria (Latin version of Hilary, just by the way).
She took us by a building that still had original bullets from a shooting done by the Nazi's when they invaded Rome and explained the Italian's role in World War 2. I just think it's extremely interesting to hear the way other countries learned about the same wars we participated in and how different the perspectives are.
Well anyways, we ventured off and our second stop was a LOCAL (meaning not tourist) gelato shop. Yes, that's right. GELATO. Like the real deal that doesn't melt and is absolutely amazing and can easily eat a gallon of.
We snacked as we continued on onto the first monumental stop. La Fontanna de Trevi (which by your context clues should know that that means Trevi Fountain). YES. Like THE Trevi Fountain, the same one that Hilary Duff made her wish in in the Lizzy McGuire movie and then met her pop-star lover who turned out to be an idiot. But that's besides the point.
Just a little background on the Trevi Fountain: American's like to think that the wish you make in this fountain can be anywhere from wishing for divorce to wishing for love and fortune haha. But in reality, there's two parts to the wish. The first is that you wish to come back to Rome and the second is something significant. You throw in ONE coin, not three, and hold it in your left hand and throw it over your right shoulder and DON'T look at the coin after you throw it.
Hahahaha okay now that I told you that fun fact, look at my picture. My friend Candace and I got caught up in the moment and freakin made our wishes wrong. MY LIFE haha. If you know me pretty well, then you know that this is just prone to happening to me. Well. So much for that wish....
Moving on. We then walked to the Spanish Steps, which fun fact, the Americans strike again. The Americans are the only people who call these steps the Spanish steps, they are actually called the Trinity Steps because they lead up to the Catholic Church. By this point in our trip, our group had a saying that would be exclaimed after every time the Americans did something foolish (like when we got kicked out of the most famous bar in the world, or got lost, or looked like tourists, or messed up our Trevi Fountain wish) and it reads in the following order: The damn Americans strike again. Hahaha, it was pretty comical if you ask me. But if you didn't ask me, then that's cool to. No big deal.
To the right of the church, you see the FAMOUS hotel where all the international super stars stay when in Rome.
We continued walking through the streets, admiring the Italians and their natural beauty while listening intently to the history of Rome.
Our next stop was the Roman Pantheon which has been changed over the centuries. The front originally had statues of all the Greek gods but when Rome became a Christian Catholic city, they were taken down. The small opening in the roof was the only source of sunlight, and the size of Pantheon measures exactly the same as the planet Earth -- meaning they built the Pantheon and the planet earth could fit PERFECTLY inside. Scientists and present day architects still cannot figure out how it was built. And yet, the Russians think they're cool. Nope, the Romans definitely win.
We made it to the art district and a few other minor monuments before splitting up for our free time.
Where my same group of friends (the Fab 5 and occasional 6) decided to have dinner in front of the Pantheon. Which BLOWS MY MIND. It was just so normal, like yeah let me go have a glass of wine and pizza in front of one of the most ancient places in Rome. Like, I'm sorry...what?
hat's what I call incredible. After dinner, we "headed back to the hotel". Why is that in quotation marks you ask? Well, if you haven't noticed by now...the Fab 5/6 had a reputation for being LOST. All the time. It got to the point where we would just laugh, get on a random bus, get off randomly, and see where we were. It was pretty great. I suffer from this disease where I always have to have a plan, if not I kind of anxiety and stress issues. This trip helped me escape that disease for a few weeks and it was literally the best thing ever.
Well. Here we were.. Lost. Did I mention we were the only idiots on the bus as well?
Moving on. We then walked to the Spanish Steps, which fun fact, the Americans strike again. The Americans are the only people who call these steps the Spanish steps, they are actually called the Trinity Steps because they lead up to the Catholic Church. By this point in our trip, our group had a saying that would be exclaimed after every time the Americans did something foolish (like when we got kicked out of the most famous bar in the world, or got lost, or looked like tourists, or messed up our Trevi Fountain wish) and it reads in the following order: The damn Americans strike again. Hahaha, it was pretty comical if you ask me. But if you didn't ask me, then that's cool to. No big deal.
To the right of the church, you see the FAMOUS hotel where all the international super stars stay when in Rome.
We continued walking through the streets, admiring the Italians and their natural beauty while listening intently to the history of Rome.
Our next stop was the Roman Pantheon which has been changed over the centuries. The front originally had statues of all the Greek gods but when Rome became a Christian Catholic city, they were taken down. The small opening in the roof was the only source of sunlight, and the size of Pantheon measures exactly the same as the planet Earth -- meaning they built the Pantheon and the planet earth could fit PERFECTLY inside. Scientists and present day architects still cannot figure out how it was built. And yet, the Russians think they're cool. Nope, the Romans definitely win.
We made it to the art district and a few other minor monuments before splitting up for our free time.
Where my same group of friends (the Fab 5 and occasional 6) decided to have dinner in front of the Pantheon. Which BLOWS MY MIND. It was just so normal, like yeah let me go have a glass of wine and pizza in front of one of the most ancient places in Rome. Like, I'm sorry...what?
hat's what I call incredible. After dinner, we "headed back to the hotel". Why is that in quotation marks you ask? Well, if you haven't noticed by now...the Fab 5/6 had a reputation for being LOST. All the time. It got to the point where we would just laugh, get on a random bus, get off randomly, and see where we were. It was pretty great. I suffer from this disease where I always have to have a plan, if not I kind of anxiety and stress issues. This trip helped me escape that disease for a few weeks and it was literally the best thing ever.
Well. Here we were.. Lost. Did I mention we were the only idiots on the bus as well?
It seemed to be a re-occurring issue haha.
After what seemed like an eternity, we arrived to the hotel, changed clothes, and were off to celebrate Ashlee's 21st birthday. SUPPOSEDLY, we were going to a beer-pong bar, where Candice and I were only staying for an hour before heading back. HA, joke was on us. Remember what I told you about us getting lost all the time? Yeaaaahhhh, it happened yet again. After asking about 15 people for directions (mind you, I was still the only one who spoke and understood Italian so I had to do most of the questioning), this super awesome Russian guy who spoke little Italian AND English, took us to the Hard Rock Cafe haha. No place like home, right? We popped a bottle of wine and ate some French fries and dessert to celebrate the birthday girl.
Afterwords, which was way past midnight and the hour that Candice and I were supposed to head back to the hotel, Connor practically groveled until I agreed to go back to the Trevi Fountain. His famous words, "WHEN IN ROME" were what convinced me to go. It's not like we were there everyday anyways...so might as well.
Okay, now. Lets back track...remember how Candice and I messed up our wishes? Well. They say you always get second chances right?
We made the same wish as we did earlier, and GUESS WHAT?! We did it wrong. Again. Like seriously. GET IT TOGETHER ANA. Hahaha so, after these pictures we got a third coin. And made our wishes. Again. Third time's a charm right? Haha (my wish better come true).
Anyhow, the fountain was absolutely gorgeous at night. Phenomenal. We sat on the right side of it (you'll want to remember that), and just admired it. We people watched, and sat in silence. Just there. In Rome, under the stars. It was amazing.
We headed back to the hotel, luckily, we did not get lost haha, and went to bed around 2:30 am well aware of the fact that we had professional meetings the next day.
Our wake up call came TOO early in the morning. In previous cities, we literally had received phone calls. When it was my turn to answer the phone, I would pick up, say hello, and hang up. Because remember, I LOVE TALKING IN THE MORNINGS. ( I really hope you caught my sarcasm). But this one was different. How, you may be wondering. Well you see....our professor...was knocking. Yes, knocking. On my DOOR. So I had to happily and excitedly roll out of my bed, and answer the door. Where after he gave me the "top of the morning" haha, I began to get ready with my room-mate.
Our two stops that day were the European School of Economics and THE Central Bank of Italy.
Okay, picture this. It's just like you see in the movies. We were received at the European School of Economics, where we were sat inside a classroom (not a board room like we were accustomed to), with NO air conditioning, the windows wide open with the blazing sun piercing our skin, and frying our brains as we listened to our speaker. We were hot, tired, and not even paying attention. I should also inform you, that we had a game going. 5 of the 9 of us had agreed to do specific movements and every time certain people did certain things we had to respond with our part. It was quite entertaining, but one thing was still happening: I was literally sweating my brains out of my head. The happy moment came where we parted to head to lunch and then the bank.
After what seemed like an eternity, we arrived to the hotel, changed clothes, and were off to celebrate Ashlee's 21st birthday. SUPPOSEDLY, we were going to a beer-pong bar, where Candice and I were only staying for an hour before heading back. HA, joke was on us. Remember what I told you about us getting lost all the time? Yeaaaahhhh, it happened yet again. After asking about 15 people for directions (mind you, I was still the only one who spoke and understood Italian so I had to do most of the questioning), this super awesome Russian guy who spoke little Italian AND English, took us to the Hard Rock Cafe haha. No place like home, right? We popped a bottle of wine and ate some French fries and dessert to celebrate the birthday girl.
Afterwords, which was way past midnight and the hour that Candice and I were supposed to head back to the hotel, Connor practically groveled until I agreed to go back to the Trevi Fountain. His famous words, "WHEN IN ROME" were what convinced me to go. It's not like we were there everyday anyways...so might as well.
Okay, now. Lets back track...remember how Candice and I messed up our wishes? Well. They say you always get second chances right?
We made the same wish as we did earlier, and GUESS WHAT?! We did it wrong. Again. Like seriously. GET IT TOGETHER ANA. Hahaha so, after these pictures we got a third coin. And made our wishes. Again. Third time's a charm right? Haha (my wish better come true).
Anyhow, the fountain was absolutely gorgeous at night. Phenomenal. We sat on the right side of it (you'll want to remember that), and just admired it. We people watched, and sat in silence. Just there. In Rome, under the stars. It was amazing.
We headed back to the hotel, luckily, we did not get lost haha, and went to bed around 2:30 am well aware of the fact that we had professional meetings the next day.
Our wake up call came TOO early in the morning. In previous cities, we literally had received phone calls. When it was my turn to answer the phone, I would pick up, say hello, and hang up. Because remember, I LOVE TALKING IN THE MORNINGS. ( I really hope you caught my sarcasm). But this one was different. How, you may be wondering. Well you see....our professor...was knocking. Yes, knocking. On my DOOR. So I had to happily and excitedly roll out of my bed, and answer the door. Where after he gave me the "top of the morning" haha, I began to get ready with my room-mate.
Our two stops that day were the European School of Economics and THE Central Bank of Italy.
Okay, picture this. It's just like you see in the movies. We were received at the European School of Economics, where we were sat inside a classroom (not a board room like we were accustomed to), with NO air conditioning, the windows wide open with the blazing sun piercing our skin, and frying our brains as we listened to our speaker. We were hot, tired, and not even paying attention. I should also inform you, that we had a game going. 5 of the 9 of us had agreed to do specific movements and every time certain people did certain things we had to respond with our part. It was quite entertaining, but one thing was still happening: I was literally sweating my brains out of my head. The happy moment came where we parted to head to lunch and then the bank.
The Central Bank of Italy was a completely different story. We had 4 presenters, each of which presented in 10 minutes and got straight to the point. No bull-shit. And these guys were THE REAL DEAL. If you don't know what a central bank does...then look it up. You'll thank me later. While their presentations were quite lovely, it was still quite hard to stay awake. So our game began. It lasted for about 5 minutes, before Connor (who was seated next to our two professors) began mimicking every EXACT movement that Dr. Grubb's made. Literally, all 9 of us were nudging each other to watch the show and tried our hardest to not look each other in the eyes for fear of complete laughter. This went on for 15 minutes while we were all chuckling, coughing, and trying to keep occupied because it was too funny to watch. Then what happened next was too good to be true. Connor started copying Dr. Lindsey as he dozed in and out of sleep and we all couldn't handle it anymore. Giggling and drinking water, we were one motion away from exploding of laughter. And guess who totally caught on? The presenters!!! They smiled and giggled a few times as the presentation came to a close. We were taken through the famous entrance of the bank that is exclusively for people like the President, Prime Ministers etc.
We thanked our presenters, said goodbye, and we were FREE! Thank God almighty, we were free at last. Haha kidding, but not really. We again split up, the fab 5 heading off, but Candice and I kept taking detours -- walking into shops trying to find these awesome flowy pants that were impossible to locate. So of course, our group left us. We made it to the market by our hotel where we found our pants, bargained for them, and left extremely content. HOWEVER, we were lost yet again. So there I was...reading a map. That's not exactly something that happens on a day to day basis, so it was like a miracle. We walked to the bus-stop trying to figure out where we were, and for one of the first times in my life I was totally oriented and knew where we were! We walked 5 blocks and were smack in front of our hotel. It was one of the best feelings ever.
The fab 5 showered and got ready to head off to explore the Colosseum.
We arrived, and admired the grand beauty of it. Immediately we began our mini-photo shoot which included about a million photo bombs.
We thanked our presenters, said goodbye, and we were FREE! Thank God almighty, we were free at last. Haha kidding, but not really. We again split up, the fab 5 heading off, but Candice and I kept taking detours -- walking into shops trying to find these awesome flowy pants that were impossible to locate. So of course, our group left us. We made it to the market by our hotel where we found our pants, bargained for them, and left extremely content. HOWEVER, we were lost yet again. So there I was...reading a map. That's not exactly something that happens on a day to day basis, so it was like a miracle. We walked to the bus-stop trying to figure out where we were, and for one of the first times in my life I was totally oriented and knew where we were! We walked 5 blocks and were smack in front of our hotel. It was one of the best feelings ever.
The fab 5 showered and got ready to head off to explore the Colosseum.
We arrived, and admired the grand beauty of it. Immediately we began our mini-photo shoot which included about a million photo bombs.
The boys went and got beer while us girls went and bought gelato to eat while we just say in front of the Colosseum. We bargained with the sellers from Bangladesh and bought TEN toys that flew in the air. Why we bought ten we don't really know...but this is where the fun began.
Okay I forgot to mention one thing. Christian, our fellow colleague, began having RANDOM nose bleeds while in Italy. And yes, one happened in front of the Colosseum.
Then we became philosophers one Italian police and stuff Italians say (which we literally used every day when in Rome)....
Just wait, it gets better. So we kept shooting off our toys, getting them stuck in trees, throwing rocks to get them down until we eventually ended up on the other side of the Colosseum where we decided to put on a "show". Candice and I were I charge of doing double cartwheels, meaning she would cart-wheel, grab onto my ankles, then I would go. 1.) safety hazard. 2.) I was the only one who knew how to save lives (thank you CPR/First Aid/AED certification) 3.) she was an SFA cheerleader 4.) I was wearing genie pants.
The boys came over to "spot" us, which didn't go over very well considering the fact that as soon as Candace grabbed my ankles, my pants flew down, I mooned half the people in front of the Colosseum, Christian was laughing as Meagan cracked up and Connor was of course, checking out some girls that were walking by. Needless to say, it was a complete failure.
So we went back to shooting off our toys, while yet ANOTHER dude from Bangladesh was trying to sell Christian and Meagan this light up stand thing for 20 euros and they kept saying "nope, we'll buy it for 5." After ten minutes they finally got it down to 5 and then Christian goes, "We'll I don't want it. I just wanted to see if I could get it down to 5 euros." Between laughter and feeling bad for the guy, we bought it along with another one.
We were quickly reminded of the fact that it was a pointless purchase and didn't know what to do with it... So we volunteered Connor to put on a show and try to sell it. Which was HILARIOUS to watch, but again, a complete failure. We then decided it was time to go back to the hotel (it was past midnight at this point) and get some rest before heading to the Vatican the next day.
Surprisingly, we did not get lost and made it safe and sound. Knowing that if was the 3rd of July, we met in one room and our plan making for the 4th of July began....
Nobody knew what was coming next.
Xoxo,
Ana
Okay I forgot to mention one thing. Christian, our fellow colleague, began having RANDOM nose bleeds while in Italy. And yes, one happened in front of the Colosseum.
Then we became philosophers one Italian police and stuff Italians say (which we literally used every day when in Rome)....
Just wait, it gets better. So we kept shooting off our toys, getting them stuck in trees, throwing rocks to get them down until we eventually ended up on the other side of the Colosseum where we decided to put on a "show". Candice and I were I charge of doing double cartwheels, meaning she would cart-wheel, grab onto my ankles, then I would go. 1.) safety hazard. 2.) I was the only one who knew how to save lives (thank you CPR/First Aid/AED certification) 3.) she was an SFA cheerleader 4.) I was wearing genie pants.
The boys came over to "spot" us, which didn't go over very well considering the fact that as soon as Candace grabbed my ankles, my pants flew down, I mooned half the people in front of the Colosseum, Christian was laughing as Meagan cracked up and Connor was of course, checking out some girls that were walking by. Needless to say, it was a complete failure.
So we went back to shooting off our toys, while yet ANOTHER dude from Bangladesh was trying to sell Christian and Meagan this light up stand thing for 20 euros and they kept saying "nope, we'll buy it for 5." After ten minutes they finally got it down to 5 and then Christian goes, "We'll I don't want it. I just wanted to see if I could get it down to 5 euros." Between laughter and feeling bad for the guy, we bought it along with another one.
We were quickly reminded of the fact that it was a pointless purchase and didn't know what to do with it... So we volunteered Connor to put on a show and try to sell it. Which was HILARIOUS to watch, but again, a complete failure. We then decided it was time to go back to the hotel (it was past midnight at this point) and get some rest before heading to the Vatican the next day.
Surprisingly, we did not get lost and made it safe and sound. Knowing that if was the 3rd of July, we met in one room and our plan making for the 4th of July began....
Nobody knew what was coming next.
Xoxo,
Ana