Ciao Bella!

ok friends and neighbors, Italy is gone and past and i loved every second of it but now i must return to the land of hand holders and awkward first dates. loooveellyyy.

so im starting a new blog, woot! i simply suck at journal writing and typing is much more convenient. so, there you go. peace out loves

ciao!

the blog is called, Life Aboard a Pirate Ship

It's all Greek To me!

Ok hello Greece! What the heck why didn’t anyone tell me how beautiful it was!?!?! But first lets start with the first day. We were popped, dirty, ugly and tired. So naturally our Professors took us to one of the most famous tourist spots in the World, The monasteries of Greece. So I had to write a little journal about them for a class so here it is! Keep in mind it was for a class.
At the time, the only word that came to mind was hot. My head was hot, my body was hot, my throat was hot, even my feet were hot. Warm sweat trickled down my back as we walked up the steep staircase to the first monastery of the day, Saint Barbra. Though my concentration was lacking, due to the whole 3 hours of sleep I’d had in the past 24 hours, I could tell that this place was not an everyday experience as soon as we started the ascent. My tired legs climbed the several switchbacks of the mountain while my tired body more or less followed. The path was covered by a canopy of green trees and rose bushes that were meant to be neat and tidy, but somehow found their way to our feet, spilling over the stone hedge lining the walk-way. Finally we reached the top and I now understood why this was one of the most famous tourist attractions in the world.
From the balcony of the monastery there is a sheer drop straight to the ground that makes you a little light-headed if you look down too quickly. Straight across from us were the other cliffs whose tops were homes to other famous monasteries. The great, black rocks rose out of the ground like the Turkish warriors that had tried to overthrow and destroy these monasteries; straight, tall and looming over the entire city below. The view was something out of a fairytale, with the winding, stone staircases chiseled into each mountain leading up to a fort-like structure that may have been housing the three bears. The blue sky provided the perfect backdrop against the dark rocks and the deep gulley’s that separated them left room for my imagination to imagine the kind of centaurs and fauns that were living in my storybook down there. If only that fairytale were true. The monasteries were built for the monks and hermits that wanted peace and solitude from the world and were later used for protection from the Turkish invaders. Back then the monasteries used ropes and nets to get into the buildings instead of stairs. If one of the nets broke while a monk pulled up a friend I suppose they could only believe that the man must have been a sinner, and his time of reckoning was up. How else would you deal with the stress and potential guilt of being the next in line to haul a friend up? That thought jolted my tired brain and made me to turn around and actually enter the little monastery at my feet.
St.Barbera’s monastery was home to less than ten nuns. Out of the six remaining monasteries open to the public, this was the only that housed women. Right when we walked inside the tiny door, all the girls were given long wrap-around skirts to cover our immodesty. We truly did look atrocious. After a five hour train ride, the night ferry, and a long winding bus ride up the mountains of Greece we would not be called a beautiful group. All of us were in our comfiest shorts and most worn-in t-shirts with hair piled in all sorts of messy do’s on top of our greasy heads. We were a sight to say the least. Fortunately none of that mattered if we simply wore the skirt over our shorts to cover our knees. We started our tour through the hall of the monastery. Little did we realize, the whole place was only one hall way. The doors were short and most of us had to twist a little to fit inside each area. Inside the Monastery there was really not much to see. A few old
looking mosaics decorated the walls and a few plaques with Greek scripture references lined the way to the end of the hall where one nun sat reading her little book and glancing up scrupulously every couple minutes, mumbling under her breath, probably about the strange smell emitting off this long line of blonde girls. I felt sorry for the nuns. Not because they had to witness us at our best and most attractive moment, but because of their life. They had chosen to live a life full of nothingness. They sat up in this high tower on a hill, living as if it was 400 years ago and the world barely knew of their existence but for the people that had attempted to steal their treasures, or conquer the landscape. They had no family to sit with at dinner and laugh around a big table with, no house to decorate with tacky souvenirs from family vacations, and no wedding pictures to display in the front room while friends admire the beautiful couple before a dinner party. Not one of the nuns that we saw roaming the place even once smiled at us or acknowledged our intrusion in their home. What a lonely existence. I suppose that is the price one pays for solitude and complete isolation from the real world. One part of the place that even I might enjoy was outside the building. Right on the left side of the little bridge to the entry was a staircase that led to a small garden. The bright red and yellow blossoms erupted with the happiness and joy of life that had been lacking inside the monastery. Green vines clung and crept over the stone arch at the bottom of the garden where more flowers were organized in patches of color around a square of green grass. It was like the nuns were living vicariously through the blossoms the way they were groomed and taken care of. The scenery was breath-taking to be sure, and quite worth the walk up that mountain in the dead heat, but to live there alone for the rest of my life would be to stop living completely and become just another potted plant looking down on the lively city below.

Ta da! There you go that is what ive learned about how to write here on this trip haha. Anyway so that was the first monastery, then we went to the second and it was simply amazing. It was much bigger and had tons of history and artifacts from the Persian occupation and other great treasures and histories. It was like walking back in time for real! So much to see and so much history to eat right up! I loved it there, the scenery the feeling the devotion just amazing. So there were plaques everywhere saying “we almost h ad our treasures stolen, all the books and scrolls and writing of the ancient monks” blah blah, id say their treasure were the tons of ruby and diamond and other precious stone encrusted crosses they had hidden up there! Shoot you could feed a small country with the riches in that place! But I suppose that’s just my greedy side coming out in me, the other sort of treasure was more fun to look at anyway. There were big cultural exhibits and I had to wonder why we had never learned of the Persiand and the Greeks in school, this was a culture that was completely foreign to me, I didn’t recognize the costumes of the soldiers, the women or any of the cultural history on display. I wonder why not? This culture was so exquisite and beautiful and rich I wish id known more about it. Anyway the Monastery was amazing and Id suggest it to anyone and everyone.
Oh I forgot to tell you about our hilarious tour guide Kostas! He is this little, old white haired man with mangled teeth and a marvy south African accent from his days at University. This man is truly our hero and has been the cause of fits of laughter and boredom all at once. The man has a bit of a hard time speaking English because of a 33 year hiatus, but still insisted on telling us all he could about the sites. Except for one hilarious moment in the Monastery where he walked into the room and in a very serious voice said , “ I have no idea what this is” turned around and walked out. Ahahahah hes awesome. And then of course there is our bus driver Alberto, who speaks no English at all. The poor guy has been called Alfredo, Albert, Alfonso and maybe once Alberto. No one could remember the mans name! Especially the Professors. He can drive that bus! Shoot! The roads in Greece are not like our roads! They are small ledges on giant cliffs and follow several switchbacks and tiny little streets of tiny little cities and he could do it all! I commend him for not killing us, or any pedestrians on several occasions, even in the dark while it was raining from Corinth.
Annyywayysss we quickly learned that we loved Greek food more than Italian. Theres just so much more meat! Gyros of course and lots of fruit for desert and Mousaka and Tszuki and pita and ugh just deliciousness. We spent that first night in Delphi (wow who does that?) and ate a delicious meal at the hotel owned restaurant. They eat in courses and bring our one thing at a time. Greek salads with a giant piece of feta on top and yogurt with cucumber (mousaka) and veal that melts in your mouth and a big plate of watermelon for desert. The next day we saw the ancient ruins at Delphi and were once again taken back by the beauty of Greece. The ruins were situated on a big hill that as you climbed you could see more and more of the valleys and mountains and sprawling water below. Everything is green and lush except of course for the ruins which are in fact...dirt. Aahahha no they were actually amazing. There is a temple on the hill built to Apollo that has most of its columns, then several others that had fallen down and were still looking just like the postcards and pictures in history books I’ve seen since I was little. But to be there and actually see the place was very different, everything is much bigger and grandeur and you can see where everything must have been placed just so that the scenery was made to look just so. All along the road to the top of the ruins were smaller temples and areas where individual cities had come to bring alms and offerings to the Gods. The story Goes that Zeus let two eagles go in separate directions and they met in the middle of Delphi at the nave of the Earth. So there we were at the middle of the earth. At the top of the ruins is the great stadium where the games at Delphi were held, kind of like the Olympics. There was also a huge theater for plays and drama right in the middle of the ruins. Inside the museum there at Delphi there was the Charioteer and the inscription that tells us where Paul was in Delphi around 52 A.D way neato. The whole place was just something out of a story like Hercules, you could almost see Phil his trainer trotting up the steep slopes to the stadium yelling out orders to do a couple more laps around the bleachers. And the broken columns could have been where the muses sang love stories and of course there was the oracle where a priestess sat on a tri-pod on every 7th day of the month and people came to her to hear prophecies about their lives and ask questions pertaining to big decisions and their crops and the like. One time some authority forced her to come prophecy on a different day and she ended up in a terrible fit rolling around and spazzing until she fell limp from all the cursing of the authority. A few days later she died from the fit. Recently it’s been discovered that the place where she prophesied was actually over a break in the earth where noxious gases came out of the ground making the priestess high, so my guess is the death was actually a matter of drug overdose…but that’s just my opinion. On the whole, Delphi delivered.
Then we were back on the bus and on our way to Athens, the hub of Greece. Oh Athens, a dirty city that looks like any other big city, but with a few extra ruins attached. We got there and the first thing we did was get to our hotel, good old hotel Ionis.
This needs its own paragraph. The hotel is in a sketchy side street and actually looks nice when you first walk in to the spacious front room with couches and a few computers. Then you get to the room. Our room holds two twin beds and a bunk bed a tiny tv that we cant get to work, a fridge that isn’t cold, a desk a random chair and a great view of a dirty cement wall and window overflowing with old newspapers. Oh, and did I mention the ants? Oh yes there were ants crawling around and a couple in my bed until I went on a killing spree and asked the front desk for some ant spray, strangely enough they had some…? So I went around spraying it until we thought we might die from the fumes and quickly evacuated for a good hour to let the die in peace. The first time I jumped in the shower I realized it was one of those nozzles you have to hold above your head, but only after id turned the water on and it went crazy spraying everywhere while I laughed hysterically and hopped around until I could find how to turn it off. Oh yes, and it was freezing. Ahahah one of my finer moments really. The one good thing about the hotel is the breakfast, ahh I love free breakfast, and in Greece they do this funny thing and always eat Yogurt with honey and maybe oats or corn flakes instead of milk. Its good! Though by now im sick of it, but its very strange. Oh wait, and then there is also the little sitting room where we once brought tons of baklava from the bakery down the road and a bunch of fruit we got for two euros and blood orange soda into and sat and ate a great lunch after our first night in the Hole (ionis) also a great place to do homework we found out! Ahh Ionis, how we love thee.
So Athens is pretty amazing. The first day here we trecked up to the Acropolis and saw the temple of Athena in all it’s scaffolding glory! Sad story but still an amazing site. How on earth did people get buildings that huge back then? I guess that’s the power of slave labor right? Everything was huge.
Oh dear, side note- in our packet that Kostas gave us on Greece he said “beware of museum staff! They do not like singing or loud voices” ahah like beware of dogs! But he wasn’t kidding! They are killer and have whistles that they blow at anyone who comes near anything of great importance, its truly obnoxious. The packet also says “stray dogs- they are generally completely harmless” and “stray cats- it may be tempting but try to avoid feeding them” words of wisdom from Kosta.
More words of wisdom “there is no butter with your meal.” “test the water before you jump in the shower” “show respect to the statues” “Don’t flush toilette paper, otherwise you may block the water pipes” “the sun in Greece is very bright and strong be careful!” thank you good sir

Back to Athens. Acropolis= fantastic and enormous. The town is actually called Athens because when deciding who the patron God would be of the city there was a contest between the God Poseidon and Athena. Poseidon’s gift was a spring that came out of the ground while Athena’s was an olive tree. The town thought that her gift was the wiser of the two so they chose her as their Protector and city Goddess. Down the hill from Acropolis is Mars hill where paul sat and preached to the people of Greece and ended up failing miserably with only a couple converts but no lasting church. Still you could feel the power there and it was amazing to be in the same place that an original follower of Christ sat and taught the masses. It was really a neat experience.
The next day we went to Corinth and saw the city where paul worked and preached and taught in a little house church, and then the place where he was judged and found not guilty. The ruins there looked like someone had ransacked the place and taken all the good stone for their own buildings. And by now you can imagine that we were a little sick of ruins, but still Paul did walk those streets so it was worth it.
We went to this town called Nafplio which was actually the original capitol of Greece. It was really one of the most beautiful cities we’d visited and of course there was an awesomely huge castle at the top of the hill and we spent most of the rainy morning there taking pictures and exploring the castles rooms and towers. At the very top we just sat and enjoyed the cool breeze coming off the water several hundred feet below. And of course we took saweet senior pics and hilarious dancing pics as well, lets just say that I have not danced in a while ha! Fun stuff. Oh yes and did I mention that on the way down I sure did take a tumble just like charlotte! awesome
H’ok what else have I to say about Greece? Basically gorgeous and wonderful and the men are a lot more attractive, and also a lot more creepy. We have definitely been followed, whistled at and generally stared at. Even by a crazy guy! But then Kostas came out of nowhere and saved us so don’t worry!
Oh yeah did I mention the Corinthian Canal? Been there done that!.....more to come!

The end of the Roman Empire

Oh hasn’t the last week or so been hilarious.
Wow im not even sure where to start. This week has been the funniest, most horrible gosh awful marvelous week of my life. I’ve probably learned more about life and what I want my future to be like and who I want to be with and how I need to change and what not to wear on a night ferry than I have in any other place and any other time in my life. Sooo pretty much life is fulfilled.

I know its been a super long time since ive written so im not even sure what ive missed but ill give a brief overview of the past couple of weeks.

So the last week in Rome was quite wild. Firstly I was pretty much dying in bed so sick with some horrid flu thing and could not go on all the cool field trips :( I was pretty bummed because I heard It was a great day, but that’s ok that gives me an excuse to come back for sure right? Anyway I watched pride and prejudice and ate nutella all day…so then the boys called to check on me and ended up giving the coolest blessing ever. There was a whole one liner about getting better which was weird since it was for that. But then the rest was all about how the Lord knows my situation and knows what I need right now and loves me and how I need to be ready for the next couple of years because much will be expected and a lot about service and being prepared to serve those around me and being aware of my roommates and loving them and just all this good stuff that was really what I needed to hear at the time. Anyway it was just awesome and I needed it. So then I ended up going back home with the boys because my roommates had invited half the world over for dinner (turns out only one guy came from the ward ha!) so we went over and they took care of me : ) mark even made me cereal, what a gent. And Tj let me use his own bathroom, and Heston provided entertainment. And matt was matt as always hanging with the girls. Ahahah love them all. So after a while of being taken care of marky had to take me home so we braved the dark streets of Rome back to my apt. which turns out is a really long way away. So we chatted! It was a really good talk and nice to talk to a guy about it instead of a girl that always says “aww cuuteee” ha, not that I don’t like that, it was just good to talk to someone different. So turns out that on the way home mark totally got chased down by some teen kids on their way to graffiti something or other (classy kids they got here) and then also got chased by a white van and ran all the way home…I pretty much endangered his life…but I didn’t want to walk home alone! Anyway the story is much better than that but ill have to tell y’all in person (oh gosh my friend Kelsey days y’all and I want to say it all the time now..bad)

So I forgot about the day before. We went to the catacombs out on Via Appia (the street where paul came into Rome to preach to the Romans) and they were amazing. The end.

Just kidding. We got to this wide open space where I’d seen the most trees in Rome ever and met up with our little priest guide who just happened to be from Australia. For some reason he thought I was hilarious and immediately picked me out to pick on. Therefore I got a flashlight before we even got down the first flight of stairs. Ah loved it. I definitely acted as the intermediate guide and led the people behind me on a fake tour of the tombs of several small children, house hold pets and family crypts. Marvy. I loved it. We went down these ancient stairs and entered a long hallway that smelled like wet dirt and maybe dead people? Pretty good smelling all in all. On both sides of the hall, small rectangular holes were hollowed out of the stone. They used to put the body of the dead inside the hole then cover it with brick and write the name and date and the occupation of the person over the tomb. Most of the holes were super tiny, barely big enough for a small baby. Infanticide was popular among the ancient Greeks, since each family wanted a male heir to the family name and girls were only burdens to their families. Gosh Im glad we don’t practice that anymore, the Hancock girls would not exist! And what would the world be without us anyway? So we went throughout the tour, seeing where Christian symbols covered the walls and ancient frescos marked tombs of popes and priests. The feeling was sad but somehow comical since I was a little sick and had a flashlight in hand pointing out the creepiest of tombs to people and continually freaking people out with my awesome lit up face. There were also several walls to hide behind and jump out at people but we decided that would be irreverent. But in all honesty it was a truly amazing place down there. There were marks in the holes where I can only imagine the people digging the hole chipped away carefully to preserve their loved ones. Actually I lied, they weren’t to preserve them, they were to help break down the bodies. Gross… so we finally exited the catacombs, where priests still hold mass sometimes, and walked back into the scorching sun. Under the earth was nice and cool and damp, a wonderful change from the dead heat.

So then we were to our second to last day in Italy and we went to Pisa with a big group of girls. The train arrived 30 min. late, then we got on and were told that we had another hour to wait. A few of the girls got off right away and guess what! The train man lied. As soon as the girls got off the doors shut behind them and we were off! So we arrived in pisa after a terrible encounter with the ticket lady that included a 50 euro fine for a completely horrid charge and a very confused moment where jenny called the girl in our compartments coach a man…she was a woman…you could not tell this. Anyway she was on her way to an archery competition and was fixing up her arrows getting ready for the day! What an awesome hobby! She spoke awesome English and was an archer…pretty much a stud. So we got to pisa…pretttyyy much worthless lol. We walked down the one main road (totally ditching half of the group because they were slow and quite annoying…we later got criticized for that…) and turned a corner and BOOM headshot, there it was! The leaning tower of pisa!! Its about the size of the BYU bell tower and leans at about a 30 degree angle. So basically it’s a short tower that is barely leaning ahahhaha. It was so funny though! Such a silly thing and there were tons of people just milling around the square and taking a bajillion pics of themselves pushing over, kicking over, holding up and whatever you can to the tower.of course I partook and have a grand one of trying to keep it from falling on top of me. When in pisa right? Also in pisa we ate pizza! And dang it was good! Probably one of my favorite pizzas. It was massive and cheesy and delicious. Ahh perfect. So then our plan was to get on another train and go up to Sienna, but it turns out we were all so pooped and I wasn’t all the way better and was felling tired, so we sprinted (no joke) to the train station to catch the long train back to Rome. Ahh, gotta love four hour train rides through the Italian countryside. I drew a cute pic and this random African guy next to me was like “oh cool! I give you five euro for that!” bahahahahha so I kept drawing and was like ok, here ya go! Ahahah turns out he didn’t give me five euro, so I took it back. Random! Truly, train rides are so funny every single time; you never get what you expect. That night we went on a journey through rome and got the best gelato in Rome at a place called Giolittis. Holy shnikes the guy there was so excited to have four blondes in his store that he made our cones huge, covered them in nuts and gave us each a huge dallop of whip cream on top. Once again, it’s good to be a blonde American girl. We also went to Piazza Novona, one of the hoppinest nioght spots in Rome and checked out the artists in the square. Every guy has tons of art they or some other artist have done, mostly original works, but im guessing a lot of second handers too. So I got some art!! Whohooo!! Totally got an awesome deal when I told the guy “pleaseee you’ll make my whole night!” ahh, good life. So then we watched this amazing man draw a portrait of this beautiful little girl in less than ten minutes, no joke it looked like one of those sketches you get in the photo booth places where they take your picture and make it look like a sketch. Pretty much he was fantastic and it was the spitting image of the girl and he used one pencil and even the curl in her hair looked real. Wow beautiful.

The next day was grand. And it involved shopping in Rome, Fruit salad from the awesome fruit man, and walking around the entire city at 11 at night trying to get home on foot after the metro had closed. Ah I love bartering with old Indian men and crazy Italians! Also I love getting more gelato and having the guy put a surprise flavor on top, getting Whiskey flavor and making him make a whole new cone. Poor guy! He was so nice too! He gave me both cones and as the old one dripped down my hand and all over my arm I ran outside telling every person I saw that this was a free cone and they could have it! Surprisingly no one wanted it for a while! I asked a guard nearby, some guy, a whole family, and finally some mom took it! It was pretty hilarious and mostly everyone in the store and outside it was cracking up at me. Then I proceeded to eat my own cone and got it everywhere. Good pics let me tell ya. So after we were drenched in ice cream we continued our stroll through Rome and visited all the main places that we fell in love with. The Colosseum of course then the Victor Emmanuel building with the guards on the steps, then an Italian Restaurant where the head waiter claimed that we were making the other waiters fight over who got to serve our “beautiful table” bahaha right. Then we found the Pantheon piazza full of spectators watching a group of University girls from Portugal who were paying for their trip by singing and dancing and playing every sort of instrument in the square! They were adorable! It was so fun to watch them in their little uniforms singing away some Portuguese song and swaying to the music of the guitar, uke, and all sorts of percussion. All the people there were enthralled by their charm. The Trevi Fountain with it’s packed piazza and the usual singing crowd of foreign bachelors was next, this time was a rowdy bunch from Spain singing some home song at the top of their lungs. Then it was the Spanish steps for the last time. The steps are marble and white and so grand cascading down to end at a beautiful little fountain where you can walk right in and clean off your feet in some creatures mouth that opens up for you to walk into. The steps were crowded as they usually are on a weekend night. An older group of 4 or 5 pulled out their bottle of wine and plastic cups right there on the steps and started taking pictures of each other like college students, as college students ourselves we watched and chuckled and passed right through them sober and naturally high on life. After that we started the long walk home because the metro had inconveniently closed down for the night. The walk lasted about an hour in the dark streets of Rome, but amazingly I didn’t feel super nervous, I felt like I was walking the streets of St.Joe or Provo, I felt like I was walking through the streets of home. Of course it was a little scary because it was nighttime and we were just a group of girls, but it was like we’d been there so long that if anything were to happen we’d just laugh and keep walking in the ancient back streets of Rome. Finally we got home and I started getting ready for bed.

Here I must interject a story of terror and horrible..ness. So earlier one of the girls in my apt. had texted me asking if she should meet us on our walk, long story short she never showed up at the meeting place so we left thinking she wasn’t coming. After 40 min. you usually assume these things. So I get home and she is’nt coming home with any of my other roommates. Turns out she had left to find us and went to our meeting spot but we had been long gone by that time. Of course she had no phone (she’d texted on another girls) and was all alone in the dark in Rome on our last night. Great. So we started calling other apts. To see if she was with anyone and sure enough she wasn’t. Time passed and soon it was 1:30 in the morning and I was freaking out that Id left this girl and she was probably stolen and half way to Albania by now. We call our Professor to let him know that we have a missing girl and he takes down all the information we can tell him (which is little) and just sit and wait. Of course Im thinking this is all my fault I should have just waited longer, shes dead meat, we are gonna have to all go home tomorrow instead of to Greece blah blah. We of course say a prayer and I actually felt a lot better after that, Heavenly Father has got to know that Im not good with the whole missing persons freak out thing. Two o’clock rolls around, not a time you’d want to be alone outside in any city, and we hear the buzzer. We sprint to the door and there she is, smile on her face, rose in her hand and perfectly safe. Freak out over! “ I got to the place and you were all gone so I went and finished up some shopping then met this guy and he’s been taking me around Rome on his scooter taking pictures all night!”….of course he has. What else would you do with a strange man in a strange city? Needless to say I felt I had worried all that time in vain and was pretty upset so I went to bed and fell asleep within minutes ha. But I was really glad she wasn’t dead or a slave or stolen. Halleluja! Crisis averted.

The next day was a rough one and a great one all rolled up. We got ready to go in the morning in the strangest way. First of all it was our last morning in Rome and in our precious apartment, so we all took videos of the place and documented our time there, then we cooked all of our food that was left over and set it out in big pots and everyone just had a feast! Ahahah it was awesome! There was pasta everywhere! So that was fun but then we actually had to pack. When a few of us were ready to go we set out to drag our over-stuffed suitcases out and to the metro (for the last time : () Which im guessing was quite a site to see. In fact, as we exited the metro my giant purple bag definitely did not fit through the flippy gate and I definitely had to push it through and hurdle the bar in front of everyone, very athletically of course… we found our group after heaving the heavy pieces of junk up several flights of stairs, escalators and metro trains and sat for the hour wait to get on the train. Now, when we get together in a group of 45 American Girls and families and boys with over 50 pieces of luggage and backpacks we are somewhat of a road block, and a spectacle. People just kind of stare at us like we are morons and then small collisions happen which are quite funny. Haha not really but I imagine it did happen a few times. Finally the train came and the ordeal of getting all of our luggage onto the train started. If only we had known the true terror before we started. The luggage definitely did not fit on this tiny train and neither did we all. Turns out some of the girls had gotten tickets for the day before and there really wasn’t room on the train for them. Not good. After we had all got on the train (luggage sitting in our seats and most of us perched on top until the train started so we could use the aisles) one apt. of girls realized that someone else had their seats and had to climb over everyone and their luggage and jump off the train before they were fined enormously, luggage was being chucked off the train and words instructions to text and get info on the next rain were screamed hastily. We really didn’t know what happened until we drove away and saw a group of our girls standing on the plat form in shock waving us goodbye…

Thankfully a man at the station had seen what had happened and helped the girl get a later train that day to Brindhisi so it all worked out, but wow talk about a moment of panic!

So the train started and we were off on our five hour journey with a train SO packed of luggage and people it was literally overflowing, there was luggage in the racks, under chairs, between seats, on tables between seats, and clogging the aisle. We clapped for every person who hurdled over them to get to the bathroom, it was quite an accomplishment really. After a while and some passenger exchanges, a couple of Italian guys sat down by us and started chatting with us. They were amazed that almost all the Italian we knew was learned from the Metro station “did you spend two weeks in the metro!?!” our answer was actually yes ahahaha. But we had a great time trying to understand them and they loved talking to us and teaching us a little more Italian. Then we learned this awesome game called scopa ! Totally sweet game from Napoli that im in love with and will try to find so I can bring it to the U.S. so that was utterly hilarious and turns out im a pro, but also an extreme blonde because they thought I was hilarious and also the youngest of our group…22 they said, when actually I was the oldest and am 20, grand haha, at least I got a couple years up right! So that was fun, then the exiting off the train started and that was yet another grand operation that involved a little bit of yelling and pushing and shoving and chucking off of the train. Finally we were in Brindhisi Italy, the heel of the boot. The town was truly just like a little beach town in Florida or even a town in Hawaii. There were palm trees lining the little streets and families strolling down the street. After settling in our hotel we found a great restaurant that made us the hugest, longest pizza ive ever seen and laid it out in front of us, it spanned the entire table and there were about ten of us girls around the table. Dang it was great. We savored the good meal and the free breakfast the next morning as well as we knew that the next couple days we would be living on the crackers, cookies and fruit and nutella we had brought along from Rome. And sure enough that journey started out in hysterics as well.

Let me tell you a story about the night Ferry. I would suggest it if you needed some time to yourself or needed a good slap in the face to make you thankful for land, hotels, and friends. The night ferry was amazing. We clambered on (we were the first ones on of course, because Holzapfel insists that we are the first ones to almost everything, he is incredibly efficient) and found that BYU had mixed up our seats and we didn’t actually have the cramped air plane seats inside the boat, oh no, we had the deck seats (plasic and metal chairs strewn across the upper deck under a makesfhift roof. Pretttyyy much the coolest thing ever. We all scrounged up chairs and made little circles around tables and piled our luggage on the life jacket bins to reserve “beds” for that night. The wind on the ferry was so cool and fresh it was a great change from our usual underground travel on the metro, or longwinded train rides. We sat around and played for a while, mash mostly decided all of our futures for us then just as the sun started setting we were off! The deck was full of random families and groups travelling and one unusually enthusiastic older group that arrived in bathing suits and started tanning on the deck, it was like we were on a cruise that you had to sit outside the whole time for! I dragged my little chair over to the railing and turned on a little explosions in the sky and started writing in my journal and thinking about my trip the past few weeks. I had a wonderful discussion with myself and realized that I really have learned so much this trip and changed my mind on several occasions about what I want. Im pretty sure that I now know, at least what to do this year and that makes me very happy. As I thought, the sun started falling in the sky and the bright pink and orange sunset streaked across the huge sky and spilled over onto the blue water and right up to our ship. The wind whipped around us still a little warm and salty. Dinner consisted of crackers and nutella and a wonderful peach from my favorite Fruit man. As we ate I felt like old women laughing about life and our current circumstances in a little circle on some magnificent cruise ship we’d booked for our last hurrah. Unfortunately this was a ferry and we were sitting in lawn chairs on the deck. Holzapfel and Hatch were incredibly concerned that we were angry about the deck, but we assured them that this was actually way cool and we were loving the fresh air and the night life on the boat. As the night wore on the water turned black and sucked all the bright colors out of the sky and pulled them so far away that the sky too seemed like it melded right into the black of the water. Big bright stars were strewn across the sky, or maybe the water I don’t know and we rushed past the coasts of Italy in a hurry towards Greece. Oh gosh it was just so random and fresh and pretty and relaxing and life changing a night. After reading plenty of homework and talking to myself some more I decided that my attempt at being brave and staying up all night was hopeless. I made my way to our little haven and scooted a couple bags over and curled up in a little ball to fall asleep. After a couple of hours of listening to music and trying to find sleep someone wok us all up with a jerk exclaiming that we were there! What!??! It was only 3 AM and we weren’t due until 6!! Blah!!! Panic and confusion and a fit of giggles at the looks of our hair, faces and clothing (we all looked a little haggard and crazed by then)

-Did I mention that me and marie definitely brushed our teeth and washed our faces over the edge of the boat? Probably one of the highlights of the night.

Anyway, turns out we had been confused and Greece wasn’t the last stop ha! So we got off, a group of delirious young adults and had to wait in the station for another three hours till our tour guide came to get us! Ahh funny.

Ok, now this is already long so ill start another about Greece. Ciao Italy!

Hellas

welcome to greece friends. this place is freaking awesome and Beautiful and I love it. And the food is pretty dang delicious. mm tasty. ok i really have nothing to say becuase i started writing a blog entry the other day and never finished it so i just had internet time and thought id come on here and see what was up. the end....bye

the roman beach

we went to the beach and were silly with happiness

p.s- did i mention that we joined a little water aerobics group at the beach and definately did a good ten minutes of cardio in the sea while music played in the background and hot italian boys looked on... also that as we walked out on the pier one boy gave me the once over, whistled, then he and his friends did the slow clap as we passed... i love italy
oh my gosh and i completely forgot about the near death experience in naples! we were walking back to the hotel and heard some lound chanting ont he main road we walk to get back...then we saw police, then the armed forces in a row of armed shields and helmets pushing away an angry mob of loud protesters that sounded p.o'd! thankfully before we marched straight into it we heard T.J yelling at us to stop stop! and he led us a safer way home away from the riot and through the more artsy secretly quiet part of naples.

now make sure you read the post below this becuase its the full one, this was just a side note and the "blonde brigade" underneath is the real one. hope you like the pics! the first are from the beach, then the last one if from pompeii, we felt like the muses! kind of like in hercules bahahahhaha

The not so lost city and the adventures of the blonde brigade

Some days i need inspiration to start writing, either the task seems to daunting, or a vicious cold that's been going around the group finally catches up with you. Turns out I've got both!
Conveniently I just had a huge plate of inspiration on my way to get groceries for my last week in Rome. Across the street from my house is a little fruit shop I think Ive talked about before. But I may have failed to add a few details. Two guys work there that I think are around 25 yrs. Old. The tall dark and handsome one is from Egypt and sure looks the part of an Egyptian prince if you ask me. Every time I come to get fruit he helps me get a bag then smiles and waves me inside. When he rings me up he always always rounds my bill down. For instance today when I bought four peaches two lemons, three tomatoes, three bananas and two nectarines he kindly whittled down my price to three euros…basically free. With what little English he possesses he says “how are you?” and I say, “im great and you?” “good grazie” and gives a dashing ‘Im not positive if I said that right’ smile. Needless to say I have a slight crush on the fruit man. The other is a shorter more Italian looking guy who whistles every time we enter the store. He on the other hand is more forward and if I just want one nectarine for breakfast he goes in the back, washes it off for me, and gives it over for free and waves me out the door without any payment. Ahhh, its good to be a blonde hair, blue eyed American girl in that store! So today the Egyptian prince once again helped me through my purchase and tried to make small talk and I was all nervous because I can never understand him ahahhaha it was marvelous. One time when I was leaving the store a little old lady stopped us and said “that boy wants to ask you to a party!” and I said “…uhhhh our courses take up too much time im sorry!” ahahahah we all have gotten very good at making up excuses for why we can’t go to parties and on dates, Italians are just so welcoming and unusually attracted to girls they can barely understand…
Anyway, that was long, but you needed to know about my inspiration for this post! So once again another week has passed in a blur of bright colors and dreamlike places so here come the stories.
Lets start with Monday. We started the day with a trip to the train station, a place I swear I live most of the time here. We got our tickets to Naples for the next day then went on an excursion to the beloved fruit shop to get some fruit for the day. The main event of the day was our tour of the Vatican. Honestly not one of the most amazing things Ive seen, but I think a lot of that has to do with the untruthfulness of it. If I ignore how dark and weird it all was I would have to say it was beautiful. Everything was adorned with the best of the best. Some of my favorite things were the giant pinecone out in the courtyard, only because…who else has a giant bronze pinecone in their back yard? Of course the Rafael rooms were fantastic. His work was so gorgeous and colorful and the faces of his characters each represented a certain philosopher or contemporary of his. He even portrayed his rival Michelangelo (who he claimed was a genius after seeing his work in the Sistine chapel and he was embarrassed that he’d even tried to compete with him) as one of the young philosophers in the huge painting of the School of the Romans..or philosophers..whichever you prefer..or is right. I cant remember. Either way just being in those rooms made me feel like I could easily paint my own ceiling with portraits of my family and friends and pass them off for pagan gods and goddesses. Every little piece of wall and ceiling was covered in bold stories and scenes about life in a much different time than ours, I felt like I really should just go back in time to when studying painting and music and philosophy was welcomed and appreciated, ah the past, dreamy.
Next we moved through the tapestry room filled with huge rugs of biblical stories as well as papl comings into power. One of the most shocking was of Christ coming out of the tomb and all the roman guards falling to the ground in terror and Christs hands and feet torn up, but the look on his face one of triumph and promise. It was really wonderful to see the scene displayed on such a huge scale and to think that the designer sewed every stitch into that one work of art was mind boggling. Painting is one miraculous art, but to do it with a needle and thread and that many colors and level of intricacy? Wild. The Sistine chapel was next. I know this may be sad, but the place was anticlimactic. Don’t get me wrong, the paintings on the ceiling and walls were the most beautiful works Ive ever seen, but its hard when you’re crammed in such a small space with about 400 other people, no exaggeration, and everyone is staring at the ceiling taking pictures, though we all were warned against it, and battling to be heard by ones neighbor though signs clearly state silence is required. It was chaos. But the painting were so epic and beautiful you could just feel for Michelangelo and the time and effort he put into his work at such a young age of 26. Oddly enough he didn’t actually lie on his back and paint endlessly into the night. He actually just stood on scaffolding at a normal reach to paint his masterpiece. The scene of Adam and God in the middle of the ceiling is something Ive never thought to much about other than it looks so real, but here in the chapel itself it is obvious that the paint has been cleaned and brushed so that it almost blends in with the rest of the scenes and you have to strain your neck and eyes to get a good look at it. If you block out the world around you, you can start to see the work at its best. Each individual scene is painstakingly perfect, the muscles and lines of the body stressed over and popping out of the wall. The angelic hosts that surround the walls are almost lifelike and altogether lovely. Unfortunately we only stayed for ten minutes due to the lack of oxygen in the air…400 people tend to do that to you.
We found a secret passageway that ended up being a shortcut to st.peters basilica and that is a place that caught me way off guard. The second I entered the enormous structure whose walls are gilded in gold and white I inhaled sharply and took a step back. The place is a masterpiece to behold. I really can’’t even explain it other than it is beautiful in every way. It is spacious and open and the long corridor is lined with smaller chapels that hold beautiful sculptures of saints and the Virgin Mary. The small chapels used to be used as entertainment theaters that performers took over to entertain the worshipers waiting in the line to the front of the chapel, but none of that remains to be seen. Now there is just gold, lots and lots of gold. The walls and ceilings are crafted to pop out at you and curl around your senses so that your neck finally has to scream at you to look down before your head falls off of it from all the staring. The huge altar in the front of the chapel is held by four swirling pillars that look almost alien in the classical church, but they posses a gorgeous force all their own, being some kind of dark wood that stands out against all the gold and white décor. Oh goshers really its just beautiful and huge and that is that.
While waiting for my roommates I hung out with good ol’ heston and we talked about the state of my apartment and the interesting dynamic that ensues there. He laughed when I told him that the oldest of us was not myself, turns out I act a lot older than my 23 year old roommate…that just gives a glimpse into the obnoxiousness of these girls sometimes. Wow its hard to live in a house full of girls! But as consolation I got to spend the afternoon with the boys at their place. They, thankfully, all get along and share food and space in decency with one another. They took care of me and chatted for a while then took me to the metro station and rode home with me to make sure I was safe, ah I love being friends with boys, so much easier. Later that night when I led a supremely late group of girls from my apartment to our dinner reservation with the whole group I was thankful that at least I’d had that hour of solace with civilized returned missionaries to get me through the day.
Speaking of the dinner it was a great success. Our professors arranged for a restaurant to hold all 45 of us and feed the huge group too! The night was filled with hilarity and the loud laughter of American teenagers and young adults filling this little restaurant. We then went to one of the most famous gelato places in Rome called Giolitti. The gelato was good, but I unusually didn’t get what id asked for and ended up with an interesting combination. Oh well still delish! Those poor gelato men were scooping and plopping any type of gelato they could find and chucking cones into our greedy American hands while trying to understand our broken Italian flavor orders. Studs.
The next day we woke up early to get on the train to Naples and buy tickets for Brihndisi (the town with the ferry to Greece) we waited in line at the station for 20 min. and met the nicest English guy on a small trip abroad by himself. Though we could hardly understand his thick British accent, he was patient with us and asked about our program and told of his travels around Europe and how travelling alone really did have its advantages (though he thought out loud that he wouldn’t suggest it to girls) His cowboy hat and ruined fake brazillian flip flops really added to the “hungry handsome world traveler” look and it was really exciting to talk to someone who spoke English for a while and was attractive to boot.
Finally, after sitting on the floor of the station for a good 45 min (our group was a little over zealous after the last train fiasco to Florence) we boarded the creaky train to naples. Getting out at naples we realized that we definitely were not in the beautiful northern half of Italy any more. We walked out of the station and I felt like I was actually in downtown LA or perhaps Miami, either of them being terrifying and mostly blacks. We hopped on a bus and one of our professors loudly announced “This man just told me to watch out, there is a pick pocket on this bus!” thank you Holtzopfel, you are freaking hysterical. So we all covered our bags with our hands, but unfortunately, Dr. Hatch’s son did lose his watch before we even got to the hotel. Talk about a crazy place. I felt unsafe every minute we were there, not counting the night we spent in the Marriott. Can I just tell you that I love Marriott hotels? I do, I do so much that Id like to live in one some day. This place was great. Clean sheets, clean bathroom and warm shower with an overhead spout. Shampoo and conditioner and lotion and body wash and white fluffy towels and comfy beds and two pillows and last but not least…an Italian Book of mormon. Ha!
Interruption- two tragedies just occurred. 1. Just did my laundry and put in my scarf….i now have a lovely navy blue shirt and one less white shirt and my green pants have a slight blue tinge to them…sweet! Its like getting new clothes! 2. The grocery store did not have tresor…my favorite noccicola cereal sad day! No hazelnut chocolate filled pouches of joy for me.
Back to Naples. The place was terrifying. But then we made our way to Pompeii in a tiny stuffy HOTT train, all of us a bit crabby from the disarry of naples and the far awayness of everything. Then we got to Pompeii and the day instantly changed. Holy wow. We got off the train and there it was, the most perfectly preserved ancient city of all time. The buildings still stood at almost the original heights and the small streets were navigable and quaint. It was as if the whole town had just gone on vacation and we, as tourists, had come to town only to find that the friend we were visiting had left as well. Ancient Billboards in red paint, advertising some ancient amenity, still clung to the sides of walls and open doors let us peek at rows of toilets still waiting for the next occupant. The houses still opened up to a wide front room where a large stone pool laid beneath an open window in the ceiling so that water could collect for decoration. The walls were painted the most vibrant shades of red, yellow and green with tiny murals in the corners and strewn across canvases. One door step had a mosaic of a vicious looking dog, one we could only g uess meant “beware of dog!” other houses held more intricate mosaics on the floor or around columns that held up the house. We sat in the houses or outside of other buildings only imagining what might have happened there. We supposed that we stumbled across some stables where exotic animals and possibly petting zoos were included. Maybe we saw a grand estate or two and the local gymnasium where good jewish boys knew not to go because of the level of nudity allowed. Sounds like my kind of place! There were big open areas as well. Places where parties and balls and great gatherings of the neighborhood might have taken place. And of course the huge ampitheater where people sat on stone benches cheering on their favorite gladiator and watching the trap door where any minute a lion might escape and decide the fate of his prey. Flowers covered every nook of every road and big pink petals were strewn across the dirt pathways here and there. In the streets the stone was risen like it was awaiting a flood. Unfortunately it was for a much more vile purpose than mere rain insurance, it served as a kind of outdoor plumbing where excess was poured but the stones provided a realatively clean way to get around still. Sick. At least they were handy. As we walked throught the local park of the time we found a little round tomb looking building and hopped inside. It was dark but cooler and a little on the creepy cave side. As we started to exit I swear I heard a moan from the other end of the cave where light couldn’t reach and we all sprinted out in a fit of shivers. Hastily we moved along. We spent a good 3 hours at least in that place, maybe 4 , I lost track of time as it seemed it didn’t even exist in that place. The story goes that Pompeii, being quite the hub of all evil, was warned about an explosion from mt. Vesuvius so most of the people fled the city with their families and valued possessions. Unfortunately time was short and the left most of their lives at a standstill to flee the disaster. Some people were not quick enough and as the lava flowed, the dock to get out of the city was filled with people rushing to the boats. When Pompeii was discovered by modern archeologists they found several bodies in action positions frozen in the black ash tomb on that same dock. Contrary to popular belief the city was not the forgotten city. It actually was widely known that the city had been covered and lay waiting under the black ash from the time of the flow, so looters and old families returned soon after and took most of the “good stuff” from the site. Still it is considered the best idea of what ancient roman life was like at the time of its glory, and I can see why. Its completely open and preserved and if it were not for the random college archeological groups still excavating parts of the city I would assume that people still lived there. It was just beautiful and a little eerie walking down those streets. I loved every second of it.
That night we went back to naples and decided to venture out into the craziness to find food. We ended up going down some sketchy road where men and women on motorcycles and children on four wheelers roamed free and wild and dangerous at all hours. We hid behind each corner, poking our heads out to check for clearance before sprinting to the next road in fear of our lives until we found the perfect place. A little pizza place where the owner definitely did not speak English, but we all got a huge pizza each for 2,50 E. so we were severely happy. We brought our spoils back to the heaven of a hotel and searched out a place to eat it. A kind man on the tenth floor gestured to us and said in broken English “you can eat your pizza out here!” and led us to a little door that opened out onto the roof of the hotel complete with tables and chairs and the most stunning view of the city of naples and surrounding cities. It was breathtaking in the darkness, all the city lights twinkling on the water and the big ships coming and going through the harbor. Behind the hotel it looked more like the slums of brazil, all the houses piled on top of eachother with random materials floating from balconies drying in the stifling heat. Even the night was a little warm, but the breeze from the coast made it comfortable. We sat in awe on that balcony and ate our huge pizzas with massive smiles on our faces for a day well worth it all. The night air filled with our joyful laughter at having a good cheap meal, a warm shower to look forward too, and a night where worrying about safety was the last thing on our mind. Oh how I love beautiful hotels!!
The next day was another story all together.
It started out great! We visited the Pompeii museum and saw all the artifacts they found in the ruins and the world of Pompeii really came to life for me. The museum itself was a wonder to behold, the grand staircases and huge open ballroom made me feel like a princess at a ball and of course, I couldn’t resist dancing through the hall because it was so magical. That brought on teasing from mark, but otherwise worth it. There were tons of thigns to see. Ancient glass that had the most beautiful colors and patterns and masks from the theater with mouths that opened in such a way that the sound from the actors was amplified. There were statues, of course, and heads of another thousand people, but mostly there was just MORE! More of everything and more complete pieces of everything so that it really felt real. My favorite part was the exhibit of mosaics taken from the city. Oh goodness if only I were that visionary. The colors and patterns were more exquisite than any painting ive ever seen. The time taken to place every tiny piece of colored stone in the exact spot where the tired eyes of a tiger or the scale of a fish or the intensity on Alexander the greats face would most be effective was astounding. And the frescos were beautiful too! Though not as shocking they still were so amazing because they were so well preserved, huge pieces of wall and floor were just taken from their places in the city and set up in the museum. It made me a little sad that I couldn’t see them in their natural habitat, but it was still neat to see them at all. The frescos were varied in subject matter, but I especially liked the pagan gods and goddesses and the love stories portrayed in them. One of my favorite things in the museum was a statue of two boys running that was life size. But the difference between this statue and all the others ive seen is that it looked alive. The white and blue paint in the eyes hadn’t worn away, or had been repainted by some artist, and the eyes looked intensely into the distant mark they were aiming for. The arms pumped the air trying to make way for the poised and tensed legs to fly through, each boy trying to out run the other. I got in close to the face of the winner and swore that one arm almost reached out to push me out of his way. I looked around me in surprise and found that I was the only one in the room. A little freaked I jumped into the next room with my little group and away from the boys game. The museum was amazing.
That afternoon a group of about 16 of us ventured out of our little haven at the hotel into the wild that is naples and back to the train station to catch the train to a place called Sorrento. We all got separated on the train, and our main navigator (matt, the only boy of course) ended up on a different par tof the train. Turns out that he and only the four girls with him got off at the right stop and the rest of us had to hop off and wait in the deathly heat for 30 min. to catch the train back to the right station. Grand. To make matters worse, I was with a few girls that I might have liked to have knocked over with one of the pieces of pottery in the museum. Lovely. Finally we got off at the right station and headed towards our hostel. And hour later, three walks up the same hill, two down the wrong trail, and one up some random secret garden like path later, we found the little youth hostel. I really do feel bad for the guys working at the shop down the road that we passed a good four times. They stared at us like we were idiots, or perhaps some group of blonde surveyors searching for a crack in the road..nope we were lost, superbly duperly lost. But we arrived eventually after we got directions from the other group (the second set, as the first were from lizzie who Im guessing looked at the road the whole way there…)Now ive never been an advocate for hostels, but this really was not that bad! The bright green and yellow paint on the wall was still bright and the owner was really quite nice and welcoming. Of course there was Ron, the old man who had been there for six weeks “and Ill be here for another six weeks!” He told us about each of the other guests at the hostel and all about the breakfast and owner and everything else we could possibly want to know about our night stay. Up in our room we realized that we shared a bathroom with two girls from some south American country, a couple from Europe and a friendly trail of ants. Our room slept 6 and we thankfully were given newly cleaned sheets to cover the nasty mattresses and pillows. Hallelujah. That evening we went on an excursion to the town of Sorrento to find that the actual city was super cute and quaint and charming in every sense of the word. The town, famous for their lemons, is right on the coast of the Mediterranean..or is it the agean…. Anyway, on the coast. We walked down lemon road and sampled lemon candies of all sorts and soaps and perfumes all made with the infamous lemons. We also saw the worlds hugest lemons in the world and I was tempted to buy one just to say that I did. We ate dinner at a little restaurant and by that time everyone was getting a little on the nerves of everyone else. Sooo we went back to the hostel, our spirits tired, but in marginally better moods than the first time we trudged up the five hills. A few of us found a little garden in the back of the hostel and sat out in the twilit lemon grove complete with grape vines for a ceiling. Random bits of playground equipment and blown over umbrells set the scene while a supremely loud cow mooed his way asleep. The night ensued into one big slumber party. We played cards down in the lobby while other couples wrote in journals and perused the free internet. The owner sat silently in awe I think that we all were there, not drinking or smoking, but still relatively happy and polite. Unfortunatley we were loud…no myself…but a few. Me and marie left the raucus to play speed in her room and we became so delusional that we giggled until our sides hurt and her roommates started wondering why they hadn’t seen such outrageous sides of us before. Marvy. I went to my bed and laid waiting for sleep in the sketchy night…for four hours…just laying there all my pent up anxiety making me useless at sleep. At three a.m my friend kelsy sat up straight in bed, only to find me in the same position and checked her watch. “what time is it?” I enquired. “ugh, 3” she sighed and we both chuckled and lay back down to endure another 4 hours before we could wake up. I finally did fall asleep thank heavens. That morning we got an awesome breakfast from the owner. He set out little baskets full of croissants and nutella, jam and toast and snack bars, orange juice, and even coffee if we’d have drunk it. Love that man!
Oh crap I forgot something- breakfast at the mariott…the first real breakfast id had in weeks and the most variety id seen in weeks. Ugh marvelousss. It was up on the roof again so as we sat for a straight hour enjoying pastries, scrambled eggs, fruits and any other breakfast treat we could lay our hands on, we watched cruise ships port and leave the harbor. Pretty much the happiest hour of my life. I was clean, well fed and well rested, lovely.
Back to hostel land. So we left the hostel (after I precariously showered but refused to wash my hair for fear of being in the sketch shower for more than two minutes.) and made our way back to the train station to seek out a beach to hang out on for the day. With no hope we decided to take good ol’ Rick steves advice and go to meta where apparently we would find a good beach on the amalfi coast. We took the bus all crossing our fingers that he’d suggested a good spot. The normal sized bus squeezed its way through the winding streets of Sorrento and san angelo almost squashing people, cars, road signs, and buildings on several occasions. Finally we stopped right on a cliff that looked down over the ocean. Success, the most wonderful sight to behold. A beach! A big black sandy beach! We raced down the steep steps towards the building where we paid a mere 2.50 to spend the day under four big red umbrellas lounging in the hot sun and spending most of the day in the warm blue water inhaling salt water when we smiled to big under water. It was heaven on earth no lie. I put down my bag stripped off my sweat soaked sundress and sprinted into the water diving headfirst as soon as it got deep enough. The water cooled down every hot part of me and I was as happy as the little half naked kids running along the beach while their friends tossed soccer balls at their heads and their moms yelled Italian warnings to them in sing song voices. The beach you see was not a nudist beach happily, but apparently that rule does not apply to children under 12 years old because I saw plenty of boys and girls in only swim bottoms and speedos and they were perfectly happy in all the naked glory. I envied them. Italians are so not worried about body image is relieving! The most wrinkly fat old mad was wearing a speedo and the hugest lady had on a skimpy bikini and they laid there in all their glory happy as clams. No one judged them and no one was judged. If only the U.s was like that we wouldn’t all have eating disorders and constantly be on diets to assure a svelt figure and no jeering comments. Sucks to be us.
We spent the whole day in the water, exiting only when we got a chill or needed food or water, but no longer than ten minutes out of the water because the air was so thick and the sun so hot on our pale faces and backs. We met a few Italian guys that were super nice and tried to chat with us in the water, matt approved of them so we decided it was safe to chat for a bit. They asked our names and when I said “Sydney!” Paulo replied “oh bellissima!” ha they like my name here! Anyway some of the other girls talked to them for a while and me and matt beat eachother up in the water and I floated in the thick salt for a good 20 min. just soaking up the water and sun. Basically a perfect day. Of course I am now sufficiently burned and red all over, but it was SO worth it. The water we swam in was surrounded by high cliffs on top of which laid the city. Big caves lined another part of the beach away from us and across the water another city jutted out in the mist. It was unreal and tropical in every sense. I could have stayed another day if I didn’t have to return to the hostel again, but unfortunately, as with most good things, the day came to an end and we boarded the bus then caught a train on the spur of the moment back to rome (conveniently we got to the train station early so we ended up taking a train eight minutes after we arrived that we didn’t know was even there! Plus we got to get on it for free with our eurail passes and that made us all marginally more happy) Then we were back in Rome sweet home and I came home, took a sleeping pill and crashed for a good soild eight hours. Today I woke up, ate breaky, and went back to sleep for four more hours and since then have simply ate, read and written all day long. I have a nasty head and chest cold, but with all the rest im hoping it will leave by tomorrow when we’ve planned a trip to the roman fortress so cross your fingers! All in all the week was yet another amazing experience that I will remember for the rest of my life. I never thought that Id have such extraordinary experiences but they just seems to come to me and I welcome them with open arms, especially if they involve noccicola or pizza! Hahaha. Ciao loves!

Sundae

choice words is what i have for some people. Choice words.

one saying would be the one made famous by my father "sounds like a personal problem"

another would be from my best friend Christine " you're a freaking idiot."

the last would be my mother and my theory on life "life sucks then you die"

now all these are not always true and only apply in extreme circumstances. amazingly Ive experienced all three in the past two days. Shocking!

Church was fantastic today. I met this presh missionary with 6 months left from south bend indiana! He was like "michigan is my back yard!" and I said, "no way, south bend is my back yard!" we were pumped to meet eachother...then he started indulging his family troubles and i stopped him there and kindly exited the scene...do i look like the kind of person one would indulge their lifes problems too? apparently I do because i sure do know a lot about people... I really dont mind i quite like people letting me help with problems, it just makes me chuckle that i seem like that kind of person. Neat.

There is an old man in our complex that shoos the pigeons off his window every day and they fly in all different directions away from his evil hand. The people across the way watch movies every night and their windows flash black and white for hours. There is a teenage guy that lives right above us and he and his friends watch us and attempt to talk to us. They were invited over one night by one brave girl in our apartment...i made sure that they never would come over again...they made their intentions pretty dang clear and Id have none of that. A family on the other side of the complex has a little baby that sometimes screams bloody murder right before it falls asleep and i have to wonder if they torture the poor thing...but then the rest of the day its silent so i think it's just baby blues. A resident way above us has a piano that he plays that fills up the whole quad with the most gorgeous sounds ever. It's like a sunday concert for our apartments only. Sometimes the pigeons scrounge for food on our deck and heather freaks out and scares them off with the chairs...she is afraid of birds.An nine year old boy gave a talk in church today, thats how few members are in the ward here. He was the bishops son. we ran out of toilet paper yesterday and contemplated using the beday...then we decided that paper towels would suffice. I wrote 6 pages of homework today. ahhh proud.

haha i just read some of that and i sound a little bitter, im not. Im really happy actually! i could live here always! just without some of the people..im really not a girl person. But dang do i love Italy. the people are more genuine and personable and loving and im learning a lot from them. Ok i just felt like i needed to write quick to get it all out of me and remember my little neighborhood. peace love ciao

Water Busses and Night Trains

I want to start out this gloriously long entry with a preface that this week/weekend may have been the most beautiful and fantastic one of my entire 20 years.
And now I have to check on my laundry that took 15 min. of pressing random buttons until it decided to start drizzling water into the eensy barrel…whirlpool Europe is SO not up to par!....yep,its still drizzling! Ah Success.
Alright so where do I even start? Oh yes forewarning, I just got home from Venice on the night train and had a total of about 3 hours of sleep to recover from the past week…so excuse my writing yes? So it is Saturday morning and actually the first cooler day ive seen here! Its miraculous! I think it rained here last night so that explains it. Its beautiful and breezy and all the old ladies are hanging out their table cloths and rugs to dry out the window. Someones baby us screaming its lungs out like it just got an ice cold bath, similar to my chilly shower this morning. But really who can deny any sort of shower when you’ve had the kind of week I have.
Tuedays night was the first adventure. We went as a group to the Roman Opera in the middle of some ancient ruins of Roman Baths. The ruins themselves were huge and looming and gave me some great ideas for the kind of bathroom I may want in the future…im really into the whole spa in your backyard thing, I think the Romans had the right idea. So we get to the place and its huge. The Stage is a tilted and raised platform painted a dramatic black white and red map like thing and the stadium seating is packed with perfumed ladies in their nicest summer furs and old men smoking cigs and looking sleepy. We of course are entirely underdressed but really just happy to be sitting down, even if it is in the last row on the far left side.
Side note- while we were waiting for our professor we saw this awesome fashion show being set up right next to the colosseum that ended right in the Triumphant Arch of Constantine! We sincerely wanted to join the sickly looking models but were appeased when we got to dance to the thumping rehearsal music and watch the designer coach the girls down the pre-runway show. Bizarre and unreal.
Back to the Opera. Three acts, two intermissions. Wow those things are boring! Now im just saying that the story lines are boring, the story could honestly be told in about 2 minutes, but the music on the other hand was incredible! The main woman was of course a little on the heavy side (which delighted all of us, because we conveniently knew when the play was over, because the fat lady had finally sung her last note) and her voice was perfect in every way, it was high and low and her range was awesome and her costumes (including a pick sequined number) were fantastic. The main guy was definitely my favorite though and completely stole the show every time he opened his mouth. It was just awesome in every way. Of course they threw in some special effects and some creepy priests to keep everyone awake. Like the dramatic stage being surrounded by a sudden ring of fire and the 10 soldiers shooting the loudest shotguns Ive ever heard and the live sheep bah-ing its head off while a little boy sang. And who could forget the epic murder of the villain by the heroine with a Candlestick in the shape of a symbolic cross. Just a whole myriad of wonderfulness really. OK that’s all I have to say about that.
Oh yeah, keep in mind that im using a lot of this blog for actual assignments for my writing class, so if I go into too much detail those of you who’ve taken a BYU English class will understand.
So, next morning we get up and ready to go on the train to Florence. Our little group of three gets on the metro to SURPRISE a malfunctioning train. The metro inches along the tracks and stops a bajillion times in random spots along the way. We start freaking out that we are going to miss our train so when we finally get off the supposed 15 min. ride that took us about 25 this time, we are booking it. We get to the train station and find that we have no idea how to read our tickets..American remember. We scramble around trying to figure it out and finally find this nice looking business man in a suit and tie that stops and helps us over to where we are supposed to be. I will forever be thankful to those people who sat in his meeting waiting for the kind gentleman at the train station helping the stupid American girls find their platform. Once we start calming down we realize that ANOTHER SURPRISE! No one else in the group is there yet! We get on the train and slowly the story unfolds about a group of girls who also experienced train difficulties (it was a rough day for the metro system) and ended up getting split up, some people having other peoples backpacks. A.k.a entire lives with them and girls sprinting onto the first car on the train at the last minute and crying drama queens that were nervous enough to separate completely from the group and basically a full on fiasco. I found it quite amusing.
Needless to say we all made it to Florence all right except of course the epic other half of my apartment that has yet to be on time for anything and actually missed an entire museum in Florence, wow they are SO COOL! Kill me.
So we went to the Uffizi museum where the famous Leonardo, Michelangelo and Botticelli works are and saw beautiful things as well as several marble heads…I swear every person in ancient Rome has a freaking stone head of him or herself in some random museum. Cant they just keep a couple and chuck the rest? Shoot.My favorites in this museum were the Venus in springtime, or the birth of Venus, and also some huge sketch by Leonardo davinci that was gorgeous on a big canvas with sepia colored paint or ink or something *kind of like the stuff the actor uses in Everafter) it was of the Nativity scene and it was sooo awe inspiring I could have looked at it forever and never have seen it all. After that we went along to see the giant statue of David, and giant it was! Though a little disproportionate…it was still a site to see! I still don’t understand how Mike got up there to sculpt that perfect jaw and curly locks, the statue is about 13 feet of super naked hunk! Of course one of my roommates got a nice postcard of his tight behind to send to her missionary…I passed on that opportunity (how funny would it be if she sent it saying “my dream butt. Work hard.” Bahahahahahahah)
Ohp, quickl break, gotta go push more random buttons to drain my laundry of the dirty water into the sink next to it…weird.
So after this hilariousness we find our hotel and realize that it’s the most picturesque, quaint little place run by this little vibrant Italian lady who shakes all of our hands and is thrilled to tell us anything she possibly can about the city. We get our 4 keys to the four different doors to the hotel (it was on some little street with the huge doors and gates inside that and door up the stairs then door to our room…lots of doors=lots of safety!) we have a big window that opens up to reveal another window of the tiny bed and breakfast/hotel and a beautiful window box full of pink and red flowers. ( of course later that night when I took a shower I stood in my towel and yelled “good night Florence!” to the world out our little window, who could resist?) We had soft towels for once, clean sheets, a great shower, and a bade, what more could we ask for? After an hour and a half nap we went out to explore the night and had just about the best night of our lives. We met a big group for dinner outside this cute restaurant and then of course went to find the best gelato in Florence, lead by Mark, the king of the Rick Steves Italian travel guide book. Truly this book has taught us all about the true meaning of good gelato, cheap food and secret entrances. So mark lead us to a beautiful dessert then marie and I and Kate and amy went to the Big famous bridge over the River to watch the sunset while the boys went to go give one of the girls a blessing who was feeling homesick and worn down. We came to find that Florence night life is awesome! On the bridge we sat down and listened to this awesome guitar player serenade the whole bridge that was full of locals and tourists just enjoying the night! We bought his CD..italian music? Duhhh! Then the boys found us and sat and listened with us for a while. I think they like hanging out with us because we make decisions fast and actually do them. So after a random group of candle bearing mourners walked across the bridge (while the kind Italian musician played soft music and we all sat quietly) we decided to go find this youth symphony that was supposed to be playing that night. Now I don’t think Ive made you see how awesome the night had already been. We knew we had a warm place to sleep that night, the music and atmosphere on the bridge was electric and light and fun and we just chatted and listened and watched the sun fall into the water with a brilliant sunset left behind and we were with people who were totally laid back and happily full of good gelato. So we walk a little ways to this little hole in the street that opens up to the beautiful grand church and inside is a free symphonic orchestra bit. Since it was nearing the end there were tons of seats open so we sit in the second row and start listening. Im not exaggerating when I say the first piece we heard made me cry it was so beautiful! We were all in shock! Me, mark, marie, and Heston just watched, jaws to the floor listening to these kids play that most moving song Ive ever heard. I was in Heaven. After that they played two upbeat pieces that included the trumpets on their feet and the clarinets dancing and the percussion were a show in and of themselves. We were all laughing we were so giddy. The music was awesome I cant even explain it!
Ok this is getting long sooorrry. So that night we were just in a fit back at the hotel and stayed up way to late chatting but it was a much needed girl time so that was fun. Then the next day we started out climbing the steps of the Duomo church. 436 steps I believe in a cramped, winding staircase big enough for one person wide all the way up to the top of the dome. We got so close to the intense paintings on the dome (complete with monsters eating men and demons cutting their skin in half to show their insides along with angelic children and thoughtful elders…) that we could have done a little damage if so inclined. So up the steps we went and at the top was the most beautiful view of Florence and the countryside surrounding it. Wow is all I can say. The view went for miles of what Italy is really supposed to look like. Terra cotta roofs and different colored houses with winding streets and designer shops and the ever present Catholic Cathedral looming above it all. After the long descent we walked around for a while down to a market that I had to buy this beautiful scarf from. I wanted a real silk scarf, but couldn’t fork out the euros, so I went for a simpler more funky colored one that I and 37 other girls are all in love with now. After that myself, marie,matt Mark, Heston and Marks sister Emily decided to strike out on our own to see the old prison in Florence. The building was awesome, but what was even cooler was the weapons room where me and the boys tried to decide which spear would do the most damage in battle and which we would prefer to use to kill and why…quite the interesting conversation pursued and I feel that if ever asked I would know exactly what kind of forked, winged, gun tipped spear I would like to use. Marvelous. But really looking at all the old armor and guns and saddles and equipment was way to cool and renaissancy to be true. Too neato. After this we went to a park and chilled for a bit, saw the famous house of Michelangelo (totally anticlimactic and quite boring with its plain façade and boring barred windows like everyone else’s house, its amazing what you decided to skip when a price to enter is involved) Then we went to see the house of the great Medici Family, the patrons of the arts and pretty much the rulers of Italy in their day and that was wayyyyy cool . It looks like the government still uses the old bank/house as a meeting place and it doubles as a museum to their genius. The man sure knew how to please his guests and colleagues and really knew how to convince them of his ways whilest also encouraging young artists (like Michelangelo) and performers like Catherine and her dance obsession. Dinner was awesome as me mark and marie decided to order three different things and split them making us the fullest we’d been in a while (they just don’t eat as much here and we get hungry! We have more like 5 meals a day, two of them often including gelato…)Then that night we watched the full sunset on the bridge as well as a bride and groom taking pics on the bridge. All of us girls cringed when we saw her long white trained dragging through the filthy streets of Florence already a sooty black rim around the edges. Just like the whole town her gown looked beautiful and glistening and classic at first, but with a close look the glisten is just a thick layer of sweat and the classic sense is attributed to the dirty film that covers every inch in the city. And yet it still holds its beautiful charm and romantic looks. The gorgeous night ended with my most expensive gelato here yet. 9 freaking euros that I thought was only going to be 5 at most…I was angry haha oh well you live life, then you die right?
The next mornings train ride went much smoother and we arrived in Venice on time and smelling a little better after a shower and a good nights sleep. We waited in a huge line of travelers to get rid of our bags for the day then set off on another amazing adventure. Now Venice ist eh place I would suggest for lovers, couples or just a day trip. Truly the most beautiful place in Italy ive seen so far. The water brings in a cool breeze to S.Marcos square and the pigeons seem to be friends with everyone, in the words of one small British boy to his sister “elli! Look! I made a new friend!” (say that with a tiny british boy accent and imagine an angelic face of a little bright eyed boy with a flying rat on his arm flapping around wildly) The coast comes right up to the steps during the day and the Gondolas bob up and down like old men chattering away all day. They remind me of the funny group of grandpas down an alley way in the Jewish Ghetto in Rome that just sit and talk madly with their hands chuckling and arguing together right before dinner time. We sat on the edge of the water and let it cool our scorching feet and dry legs. Then we decided to go into S.Marks cathedral but were discouraged by the huge line of people standing in the 90+ sunshine waiting. Miraculously there turns out to be a secret bag check across from the cathedral that is you check your bags there first you can get a pass that fast tracks you to the very front of the line and the kindly guard just takes off the big red rope and lets you in with a smile and a nod. WHAT!?!?! Did that really happen to us? Yes, yes it did, we freaked out because we got the star treatment and just skipped the miserable waiting! Freak we were like superstars bahahha. Thank you Rick Steves! The church was glorious. The floor was completely colored marble mosaics and the ceiling completely gold inlaid mosaics with marble portraits. It was just gorgeous. Though I did really want to cross over the other red ropes in to what looked to me like dungeons… someday. So then we wandered through the streets and looked into all the little glass shops and markets and had the best time. This is my kind of city, where artists are on every corner in every shop, blowing glass, shaping candels, painting masks and etching scenes of venice. One mask chop we went into had all these beautifully crafted, paper mache masks with intricate paint and detail as well as a couple metal lace masks and over the tob feathered pieces. I was in heaven and had to restrain myself not to buy one. It was more like a fairytale than reality and I really could’ve stayed for another two days. One thing we decided to do was take a water bus back to the train station that night, so after a delicious dinner of my first lasagna in Italy (the best ive ever had) we start walking toward the plaza where the ride starts with the sun set. We grab some famous gelato and head to the dock but unfortunately something amazing happens…it starts to rain. Hurray! Rain! We walk in it for a while licking our cones, happy to finally not be torched by the suns rays and cooling down a little. Then it starts to pour, as in pelt. The four of us girls and TJ scramble to the nearest doorway and huddle tight to protect our bags from the downpour. We laugh it off thinking it will stop soon. Just then something smacks me in the foot. Hail. Big, fat rock hard, icy hail comes at us from all directions banging into our faces and smacking us on the head and bouncing off our newly tanned feet. At this point we are all laughing hysterically thinking aloud that this cannot be happening right now. But sure enough through our screams we hear the people across our little hiding place chuckling at us and the tourists in the restaurant a little ways down taking videos and pictures of the soaking American girls screaming in the hailstorm. Probably one of my better moments Id say. The rain was hitting so hard that the little restaurant had to knock over some chairs and tables to shut the windows so the water wouldn’t get inside! Oh heavens just a hilarious turn of events on such a sunny gorgeous day. So wetter than a bathed pack of dogs we trudge up to the boat and find that the other group of girls had a similar, if not wetter experience and we all were quite a site to see. We hopped on the water bus and saw the rest of Florence on the Grand Canal out the back of the public transportation  another group of girls later told us of their hailstorm experience mid-gondola ride and we had to admire the even more theatrical setting of their misfortune. The city at night was magical and the scenes were straight out of a picture book where the bright lights popped out over the water and the doors went right up to the water where well dressed couples waited on the water for a water taxi to pick them up for a night ride. Ah Venice, my kind of city.
The train station was terrifying. Random students and travelers slept on the floor or sat close in groups waiting for the night train and played poker or wrestled around us, the little BYU group (well mob like actually) of girls switching PJ shorts for skirts right there in the station, too cheap to pay the 80 cents for the bathroom and too afraid to leave the boys sight for too long. After we finally got on the train we realized that we had perhaps taken the wrong choice on this one. The train was cramped, hot smelly and ancient looking. And the people only added to the dimness. Think of Hogwarts express with only one side of small rooms and many, MANY more terrifying creepy men wandering the halls trying to talk to you. I walked into the car where the three of us girls were sitting and found a huge black women and an old Italian man with his little son sitting in our seats. I wasn’t really in the mood to negotiate so I announced loudly that these were our seats and they had to get out of the car right now because we had paid to sit in them. They all stared at me blankly then slowly removed themselves grumpily one by one. What the heck people Americans are NOT pushover, reserve your own dang seats! The one little Japanese guy (he was 23) who actually was in the right car chuckled as I ushered the unwanted creepers out of the car and said “they were in my seats too! Thank you!” haha we became good friends and I learned all about his studying in Stockholm and life in Tokyo where he lives but wishes he could go back to the Japanese countryside. Also about his love for harry potter and wide open landscapes…good guy. The two girls that ended up sitting in the car with us were so nice and studying in Madrid from Puerto Rico studying law. We all spoke English and were all well dressed and not terribly frightening as some of the people outside our little window were. (we closed the blinds ASAP when we realized that some sketchy man was staring into our compartment.) As I went to check on the other girls and find out where the boys were just in case I saw that the other cars were not so friendly as ours was and I felt bad for some of the girls who had to sit alone. Luckily the boys took charge and checked on us themselves a million times before they went to sleep, making sure no one was too freaked out or if they needed a sitting partner or to switch so as not to be alone they volunteered. Heston even went with me to check on maries car that was in a different part of the train. Gosh dang we are so lucky to have four very protective return missionaries that don’t take no for an answer for their girls…all 38 of us. Hahaha luckily there was only about 15 girls with us that night. After a little chat with our car we all settled down for some hidioderous “sleep” on the rickety loud train while lights of the multiple cities we passed flashed across our closed lids making us anxious and weary. Several times some strange man tried to walk in our car, perhaps looking for and open seat between stops? Each time heather said “escuzzi! And slammed the door in his face. We would have no strange men in our little haven except for the kind Japanese guy and our four body guards (whom the Puerto Rican girls adopted as their own as well “they look strong!” they said) Eventually, through a fit of sleep and dreams we arrived in Rome in time for the Metro to start up and bring us home again home again jiggidy jig. All was well with the world after I took a shower and rinsed the grime from the train and the dirty Venetian water off my body and tried to erase the stench coming off my limbs.
And so here I sit, so tired im starting to read my writing with a slight British accent and contemplating why I just ate three pieces of white bread, a spoonful of nutella and hazelnut wafers at 9 in the morning. Another glorious start to another glorious day.
Goodnight!

Sugar, love, happiness

Today has been a day of sugar love and happiness. oh yeah and now that all of these people are reading this im pretty sure its gonna be boring cuz im all aware....sorry mateys
Last night was grand, i sat in bed for two hours and eventually woke up and yelled at my roomates :/ ha they were such good sports though and when i woke up i had the cutest note under my floor saying "you are so great thanks for letting us know how you felt in a great way without getting mean" bahahahah i was like shoot im pretty sure i yelled but they were so nice about it i love it.

ok so today was marvy. this morning we went on a church tour and saw these crazy churches that were so ornate and beautiful and freaking old. So we went into one that is from the 1st century A.D and this volunteer church keeper started talking to us and got soo excited that we were students from America and here in Rome for so long and getting the real experience and he was like "ok, here what i do, where your professor?" so we got Holzopfal and the guy like got out this key and took us to the back part of the chapel and we got to walk around the back stairs and see the mosaic up close, the oldest mosaic in Rome. Freaking Awesome, THEN he was like "ok you come back next weeks in group of five and I take you down to the basement and show you the house where Paul stayed with the church in Roma" freak saweet! it was awesome he was all excited to take us to the secret places! ugh im pumped.

k so then me and my friend marie just kind of snuck off and went on our own little adventure through Rome! We sat on this beautiful street full of cafes and shops and ate lunch under a little umbrella...dont worry we totally took pics because the moment was perfect and delicious. so then the rest of the day we just walked around and shopped and looked in stores and just had nowhere to go and nowhere to be. twas awesome. Then we ended up at the Trevi Fountain and just hung out and ate gelato (hazelnut and nutella...) and wrote some stuff and just sat and people watched for a while. yeah thats right, i just hung out at the Trevi fountain today, what up.

then we went to the Pantheon and met up with the boys and a couple other girls and took the 360 tour. for real that was the biggest dome ive ever seen in my life. The place is BC! The columns that hold it up alone are ginormous then you get inside and everyone you see just kind of stopd abrouptly and slowly enter. Its massive! If i could fill up that huge space with anything it would be nutella (I asked marie that question and she gave the perfect witty answer of "dancing, just one huge ball" ugh love her) anyway so this place has been there before Christ and its in awesome condition becuase the Romans ended up turning it into a catholic church so it was saved while the rest of the ruins over in Palantine hill were stripped for everything they were worth and used other places. It was so massive I cant even explain it, and the occulum shined down on us like a big giant eye watching us. We snuck into a little english tour and the guy said that at first they had trouble with rain coming in so they just put 6 little holes at the bottom of the Occulum and drained the water out. Shoot the Romans knew how to work their water.Every day i am even more thankful for free fountains in random streets, i wash everything, arms legs, face, and fill up my water bottle, fantastically convenient.

so when we were done being in awe, the boys basically dragged us ot the metro to get to some other church to meet the whole group and we squished in like sardines in a sweltering can, grand. We made it to the church where the popes used to be crowned or coronated or ordained or whatever and looked around that a little.

side note-- i never really realized how much we owe the catholic church. We have this idea that they are the devil apostate church but really they just had a fallen church and tried to pick up the pieces and put it back together, they just missed the light sadly. But without them we wouldn't have the bible, Joseph smith never would have read james, we would all be speaking arabic and reading the Quaran and Id be stuck wearing those awful veils over my head and crying secretly about my sweaty sarong...just overall a bad plan ya know? anyway I know we are mormon and we come from a protestant background, but we've got to cut the cat-lickers some slack! oh shoot can i say that? eh its my blog. but i really do have more respect for them being here, plus they saved a lot of the history that the Romans left behind, of course they destroyed an awful lot too...but im trying to be positive here!

annyywayy, so then we went to the sacred steps; the stairs where apparently Christ walked up Pilots house and was tried. Some queen and Constantine brought the marble back from Jerusalem and it is now covered by wooden planks to perserve...load of crap? I think so, but still it was heart breaking to see like 20 people on their knees going up the stairs one by one saying the same prayer every step and just knowing that it was totally worthless and nothing would come of it except sore knees and a pagan prayer stuck in your head…sad story.
Another thing that’s sad are confessionals, holy cows who’s idea was that? Way sad and kinda creepy. One of my roommates sat down in one (shes wild and will try anything) she was like “ok so ive never done confessional before how do we do this? And the priest was like, well you have to be a catholic, and she said “ohhh well Im atheist! But I still want to try!” and he was like, oh youre not ready youre not ready, and totally left the stall after her! Ha poor old guy.
Ok so anyway great night we then played some game outside the church and got to know each other a little better, then hopped on the metro and laughed loudly like Americans do talking about fuzzy peaches and their relation to small gerbils or rodents and how we enjoy the taste of nutella on English muffins. We ate dinner at this tiny pizzeria next to our apartment (I totally ate mushrooms everyone, way good here) then went to the bakery across the street for nutella filled cookies, ugh I love that bakery place. Then the fruit man opened his store for us and some woman told us that he wanted to ask us to go out with him tonight…we declined claiming our program you too vigorous…sad day, I love that fruit man. Oh well my Italian Lover is out there somewhere!!! Bahahaha ok im so tired I can barely stand it. This week we are going to Florence and Venice to I better get some rest! Love and miss you all
Ciao, ti amo!