So, like the smart person that I am, I didn't get to bed till around 3 am Friday morning, and had to get up at 5 am to catch the train to Florence. It was hell to say the least. And any of you who know me, KNOW how much I hate the morning. It was the 5 of us; Nick, Lauren, Katie, Nika and I. It was still dark as we wondered the streets of Rome, taking the 990 to the Cipro metro stop, and the metro all the way to Termini. We wanted to get on a train as soon as possible so we went to the desk to buy our tickets. We had been told by friends that the tickets were only 15 euro for the slow train, which was fine by us because we wanted to sleep so we could be well rested to explore the rest of the day. Unfortunately the attendant had no idea what we were talking about, and ended up having to pay 38 euro for a ONE way ticket to Florence. We were all bummed, this was supposed to be a cheap weekend! Not only did we pay 38 euros, we got there within less than an hour and a half which meant very very little time to sleep.
Fortunately our hostel was only 2 blocks away from the train station. A wonderful characteristic of Florence, everything is within a 10 minute walking range. We got to our hostel "Archie Rossi," but couldn't check in until one. There was a place to store our things and there was a free walking tour around the cities main sites at 10 am. So we grabbed some coffee and were on our way. We had looked up the weather and it was supposed to be raining all day Saturday and Sunday, but to our pleasant surprise it was blue skies and sunny all day Saturday. It was perfect weather while we explored the entirety of Florence. First we saw the market, which was just around the corner from our hostel, and then San Lorenzo. The interior of the church is supposedly one of the most magnificent churches to ever be seen, but for some reason we couldn't go in. The exterior leaves little to be desired, but there is reason for this! Michaelangelo had a whole plan to decorate it with white marble, and make the outside of the church just as magnificent as the interior, but he was sent to Rome to work on the Vatican... NOT by choice. Rome had threatened to attack Florence, so Michaelangelo was forced to do his pieces at the Vatican which I found incredibly interesting.
The Duomo was next. Literally the most incredible exterior of a church I have ever seen. It is pink and green! So much detail and beautiful marble. It was massive! Fourth biggest in the world... depending on who you talk to. But the Vatican is first, then one in London, and than the church in Milan, and then the Duomo in Florence. It even had an ancient clock that told time by the sun. It had 24 roman numerals. If I knew more about god (I choose not to capitalize intentionally -- I also am going to start writing woMYN this way... by choice, I was informed it still considered correct spelling even though on Word it says it is incorrect), but yes, if I knew more about god I could tell you all that was depicted on the ceiling of the Duomo. I think it was some variation depicting judgement day. The art inside the church was a combination of both the Gothic and Renaissance style. The windows were from the Renaissance and the pillars were Gothic because of the grey colors. Fascinating stuff.
We ended in a Piazza with the statue of Neptune. It was a gorgeous piazza filled with many other statues as well. We met Nick's high school friend there Andy who Nick stayed with for the weekend. We went back to an organic market we had passed on the tour. An organic market only open on the first Saturday of the month, with only cheese and wine. It was pretty neat. Any wine and cheese lovers heaven I'm sure. We then stopped at a cute pizza cafe off the Piazza before we did a full loop and tour all over the city of Florence. Nick searched for his leather messenger back which was his #1 purchase in coming to Italy. We walked all across town, did a million and photo shoots, stopped for some gelato before we finally headed back to our hostel for a nap around 5.
We were all so overly exhausted we couldn't fall asleep and had a somewhat dullisional conversation until we could no longer stay awake and napped for a short hour. We got up, got ready, and headed out for a nice Florence dinner. I heard from a friend that Florence was known for its steak, but it was too expensive so I got Pork Ribs and Potatoes. It was delicious. Still on my sober binge I drank about 3 glass bottles of water to myself (you are usually supposed to share them with the whole table). After dinner, we got some pre-gaming materials and headed back to Andy's apartment. I bought juice. Blood orange juice, the most favored juice in all of Italy. We got in some heated political debates after listening to an annoying girl from Tish brag about her life and how many famous people she knew and had worked for. I guess she has gotten high with the kid from the 6th sense? Who knows. We were tired of it after a solid 5 minutes of her banter.
We managed to make our way to the "Space Bar." A huge discoteca in Florence. It was quite the scene. First discoteca I have been to in Europe and I had a blast! Everyone else was wasted, and I probably had the best time of anyone, sober! I danced my pants off the entire night. I had decided I could either be bored and sit down while watching drunk people get more drunk all night, or have the time of my life. And in choosing the latter, I definitely made the right decision! Lots of music, lots of fun, lots of raving. It was a jolly ol' time.
We got home around 4:30 am, and passed out immediately. Being up for 24 hours on only 2 hours of sleep can really do you in. We had set an alarm for 9 but didn't wake up until 11. Fortunately the hostel didn't charge us for an extra day. We got a slow start to the day, and went out for a phenomenal breakfast. So much food and deliciousnes all at once. We all miss breakfast a lot. That took us another couple of hours, and by the time we wanted to head to Pisa it was too late. The museum where David is, also closed by 2 on Sundays, so we missed seeing him as well. Plus we had already been screwed with expensive tickets so we decided to shop around the markets and stores in town. I bought myself a pink scarf!
Once we finally made it to the train station we had JUST missed the Regional train which was the 15 Euro train rather than the 40 Euro train. So we had to wait another 2 hours before catching the next train at 7:15. We sat in a Mcdonalds and had some fun conversations for the remaining time. There was also a weird pattern of people eating in Mcdonalds and taking pictures of themselves there and eating the food? We weren't sure if they thought it was cool or totally absurd. But it was weird for us none the less.
We made it back to JFRC by midnight and were completely exhausted. Monday and Tuesday were easy and relaxed, class and homework. Naps somewhere in there too. We had to play major catch up since we are leaving for Brussels and Amsterdam this weekend! Tuesday we watched the film Bicycle Thief. I think its a pretty well known film, good, and much less depressing than the others we have watched so far. Not that this film was depressing as well.
Today was class and homework, it hailed today? I am confused by mother nature. She is just so upset she wants to throw us all off I guess. Manic little lady she is. Its above 60 in Chicago, and pouring hail on our heads over in Rome. To say the least it was chilly outside, so I skipped out on Calcio tonight. Decided to stay in, get some homework done, get caught up on this blog, and even do laundry! Lauren and I switch off doing the full load so it was my turn this time. Time to get packed up before we head off for the outrageous weekend! I will come back with details galore. Only the appropriate ones of course. Have a wonderful weekend and Happy Valentines Day!
Love,
Nora.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Catching up. Vatican City!
So I guess Friday has already been covered since our acquaintance with the neighborhood happened that day rather than Wednesday. We were lazy and went to bed early Friday night so we could get up early and go to the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel. The line was long for students to get in, but it was only 8 euro if you had a student ID. Poor Nika is still waiting on hers, so she had to pay the full price of 14.
The Museum was incredible. I probably took another 400 photos. There was so much depth and detail to the paintings of each individual room we entered. There is so much intricacy that covered such a large mass it was almost too overwhelming to comprehend. But than once you take a few steps closer and you can see the texture of the paint, and the movement of each stroke the painter made with his brush. It's beyond words to describe the detailed work that lined this museum. We walked for an hour through each of the rooms, some of which used to be bedrooms of previous popes. We stopped, sat, and gazed in a few rooms because we were in such awe. The ceiling was covered in art and the walls from top to bottom. With detailed marble lining all of the floors. We wondered how long it could have possibly taken to create such a masterpiece. To give you an idea of how large this place is, we only went through HALF!
The Sistine Chapel was purely undescribable. To see one of the most famous and historical pieces of art right before your eyes is powerful, moving, and again indescribable. To see man reaching for the heavens, and the tension between their two fingers almost touching but never will. It was mind blowing. We sat for about a half hour in the chapel. Some of our group bought rosaries for their mothers who would be thrilled to have a rosary from the Sistine chapel, I however moved on. Afterwards we got a bite to eat outside of the Vatican and walked around the neighborhood and shopped since it was the last day of sales. I bought a pair of boots and a leather bomber jacket! The jacket is purple and has sweet collars. Nick went on a major shopping spree, Lauren got some boots as well, and Nika finally got a new wallet. We wandered for a couple more hours, stopped for Gelatos and headed home for a quiet evening. We all watched Pineapple Exrpress in Rinaldo's and went to sleep. It was a very calm night life weekend in Rome which was really nice for all of us.
Sunday we attempted to get up and go to the market, but failed miserably. We had no idea where we were going, and since it closed by 1 we decided there was no point in trying to get get there with limited time to shop. We slept in late to get ourselves well rested to watch the superbowl from midnight until 4 am. We ate dinner, caught up on some homework, and headed out for the evening around 11. We went to a new bar called On the Rocks. There were more Italians there which was nice. Its in an area called Trestevere which I am looking forward to exploring more. I hear there are more bars, less Americans, and a more diversified population in the surrounding areas. So I have yet to lose all hope in meeting some young Italians. Sunday night was also the most dramatic night of my life. I think alcohol and an extremely intense football game can really throw some people over the edge. Especially men who already have a tendency towards "Asshole" qualities. Needless to say, beer was thrown, screaming took place, kicking out of those men screaming at us, and finally a chair was thrown at us as well by some older Italian man. I was incredibly sober so this course of events was to say the least draining. But a funny memory in the long run. But to top off the night we had the best taxi ride home I have ever had in my entire life. It was Lauren, Nika, Katie and I. The man was staked outside of the bar waiting for those ready to come home after the superbowl. I'm sure he could hear the frazzled and distressed tone in our voices, so within about 2 minutes of the cab ride he pops in a cd and turns it on blast! It has 8 songs on it including Maroon 5, Jordan Sparks, Rhianna, and several other American Pop artists. This man was running a business! He had us all screaming at the top of our lungs and dancing to the music, he even participated as well! We had so much fun on the cab ride home we were able to completely forget about our disasterous night. Unfortunately I didn't get to bed until about 6 am and Monday morning I my first Sociology test. That didn't go as well as I had hoped. I am gonna step up my game in school for sure! Classes like I expected though are extremely hard.
Anyways, after class 6 of us went on a piercing excursion. Four of us walked out with piercings. Katie, Kristi, Kaela, and I. I got my monroe pierced. I had two solid weeks of sobriety due to medication for my kidneys PLUS it was my birthday week (sort of?) so we all decided to be adventurous and get something done. It was a bonding experience for all of us, and we were all swollen for a couple days there after. My lip has finally gone down after lots of cleaning, tape and ice on the face, and much less aggressive Calcio playing this week.
Tuesday was a normal day, watched another depressing movie which I talked about in my previous post. I guess De Sicca was trying to convey Italy's misery during and after Facism, and he is doing a wonderful job. We are all left in shock after every film. But our teacher-Dibiagi-gets infuriated when we don't like the endings if they aren't happy. He doesn't understand why people always expect happy endings in the art of film because its not reality. He sees film as an art that is an expression of the world and reality. Artists are supposed to feed messages of reality through their own perspective and creativity, not just simply entertain. He says the real world almost never has happy endings which is absolutely true, we are just all used to Hollywood romantic comedies I guess. He is teaching me quite a bit about film, and its art, angles that the films are shot from. Its much more creative and deeply thought out than I ever initially expected.
Wednesday was calm until Calcio. Funny story though. Every Wednesday night at dinner they blast music in the cafeteria to pump everyone up to play calcio, its hilarious! People are jumpin around and making competitive gestures to the teams they will be playing against that night. Its a riot. Although, probably from all of the high energy and blasting music, the electricity in the cafeteria went out for the remainder of dinner hours. I have never eaten dinner in the dark but it was kind of exciting and weird and mysterious as to what would be put into your mouth next!
We had an 8:30 game and we played soccer in the rain! I have always wanted to play soccer for fun in the rain. Although like I said before, I was terrified of my face getting pelted with the ball so I was far less aggressive and actively playing this week compared to last week. We won though! Against the Marone team which I guess is brown? Gross. Anyways, we put up a good fight and won 4 to 3! Lauren and I skipped out on beer and pizza this week and headed home to get some homework out of the way. But since I had hardly broken a sweat in soccer I decided to go on a run... ME, running... WHAT?! I felt productive afterwards and showered for the undisclosed number'th time. Thursday and today (Friday) have been lazy lazy days. There was a wine tasting session that I had planned on going to, but shortly soon after realized I was still not able to drink... So I missed out on that excursion. Bummer, but I think my SLA said she would do it again, so I will definitely be attending the next time she coordinates it.
Today we had plans of going to H & M, and getting chinese food, but for some reason the rainy season has given us all a hard hit of fatigue and serious lack of motivation. So laundry, homework, catching up on the news were in the mix, and its going to be an early night as well. We are off to Florence at 5 am tomorrow morning! We hope to catch a 7 o'clock train and get in by 11 and explore the rest of the day! I'm very excited. We will hopefully go to Pisa on Sunday as well to see the leaning tower. I will write about Florence soon!
With much love,
Nora Claire.
P.S. This blog was obviously supposed to be posted on Friday night, but the internet has been overly spuratic and non-existent at times. So forgive the confusion. Hope everyone had a great weekend! TIme for another depressing movie tonight!
The Museum was incredible. I probably took another 400 photos. There was so much depth and detail to the paintings of each individual room we entered. There is so much intricacy that covered such a large mass it was almost too overwhelming to comprehend. But than once you take a few steps closer and you can see the texture of the paint, and the movement of each stroke the painter made with his brush. It's beyond words to describe the detailed work that lined this museum. We walked for an hour through each of the rooms, some of which used to be bedrooms of previous popes. We stopped, sat, and gazed in a few rooms because we were in such awe. The ceiling was covered in art and the walls from top to bottom. With detailed marble lining all of the floors. We wondered how long it could have possibly taken to create such a masterpiece. To give you an idea of how large this place is, we only went through HALF!
The Sistine Chapel was purely undescribable. To see one of the most famous and historical pieces of art right before your eyes is powerful, moving, and again indescribable. To see man reaching for the heavens, and the tension between their two fingers almost touching but never will. It was mind blowing. We sat for about a half hour in the chapel. Some of our group bought rosaries for their mothers who would be thrilled to have a rosary from the Sistine chapel, I however moved on. Afterwards we got a bite to eat outside of the Vatican and walked around the neighborhood and shopped since it was the last day of sales. I bought a pair of boots and a leather bomber jacket! The jacket is purple and has sweet collars. Nick went on a major shopping spree, Lauren got some boots as well, and Nika finally got a new wallet. We wandered for a couple more hours, stopped for Gelatos and headed home for a quiet evening. We all watched Pineapple Exrpress in Rinaldo's and went to sleep. It was a very calm night life weekend in Rome which was really nice for all of us.
Sunday we attempted to get up and go to the market, but failed miserably. We had no idea where we were going, and since it closed by 1 we decided there was no point in trying to get get there with limited time to shop. We slept in late to get ourselves well rested to watch the superbowl from midnight until 4 am. We ate dinner, caught up on some homework, and headed out for the evening around 11. We went to a new bar called On the Rocks. There were more Italians there which was nice. Its in an area called Trestevere which I am looking forward to exploring more. I hear there are more bars, less Americans, and a more diversified population in the surrounding areas. So I have yet to lose all hope in meeting some young Italians. Sunday night was also the most dramatic night of my life. I think alcohol and an extremely intense football game can really throw some people over the edge. Especially men who already have a tendency towards "Asshole" qualities. Needless to say, beer was thrown, screaming took place, kicking out of those men screaming at us, and finally a chair was thrown at us as well by some older Italian man. I was incredibly sober so this course of events was to say the least draining. But a funny memory in the long run. But to top off the night we had the best taxi ride home I have ever had in my entire life. It was Lauren, Nika, Katie and I. The man was staked outside of the bar waiting for those ready to come home after the superbowl. I'm sure he could hear the frazzled and distressed tone in our voices, so within about 2 minutes of the cab ride he pops in a cd and turns it on blast! It has 8 songs on it including Maroon 5, Jordan Sparks, Rhianna, and several other American Pop artists. This man was running a business! He had us all screaming at the top of our lungs and dancing to the music, he even participated as well! We had so much fun on the cab ride home we were able to completely forget about our disasterous night. Unfortunately I didn't get to bed until about 6 am and Monday morning I my first Sociology test. That didn't go as well as I had hoped. I am gonna step up my game in school for sure! Classes like I expected though are extremely hard.
Anyways, after class 6 of us went on a piercing excursion. Four of us walked out with piercings. Katie, Kristi, Kaela, and I. I got my monroe pierced. I had two solid weeks of sobriety due to medication for my kidneys PLUS it was my birthday week (sort of?) so we all decided to be adventurous and get something done. It was a bonding experience for all of us, and we were all swollen for a couple days there after. My lip has finally gone down after lots of cleaning, tape and ice on the face, and much less aggressive Calcio playing this week.
Tuesday was a normal day, watched another depressing movie which I talked about in my previous post. I guess De Sicca was trying to convey Italy's misery during and after Facism, and he is doing a wonderful job. We are all left in shock after every film. But our teacher-Dibiagi-gets infuriated when we don't like the endings if they aren't happy. He doesn't understand why people always expect happy endings in the art of film because its not reality. He sees film as an art that is an expression of the world and reality. Artists are supposed to feed messages of reality through their own perspective and creativity, not just simply entertain. He says the real world almost never has happy endings which is absolutely true, we are just all used to Hollywood romantic comedies I guess. He is teaching me quite a bit about film, and its art, angles that the films are shot from. Its much more creative and deeply thought out than I ever initially expected.
Wednesday was calm until Calcio. Funny story though. Every Wednesday night at dinner they blast music in the cafeteria to pump everyone up to play calcio, its hilarious! People are jumpin around and making competitive gestures to the teams they will be playing against that night. Its a riot. Although, probably from all of the high energy and blasting music, the electricity in the cafeteria went out for the remainder of dinner hours. I have never eaten dinner in the dark but it was kind of exciting and weird and mysterious as to what would be put into your mouth next!
We had an 8:30 game and we played soccer in the rain! I have always wanted to play soccer for fun in the rain. Although like I said before, I was terrified of my face getting pelted with the ball so I was far less aggressive and actively playing this week compared to last week. We won though! Against the Marone team which I guess is brown? Gross. Anyways, we put up a good fight and won 4 to 3! Lauren and I skipped out on beer and pizza this week and headed home to get some homework out of the way. But since I had hardly broken a sweat in soccer I decided to go on a run... ME, running... WHAT?! I felt productive afterwards and showered for the undisclosed number'th time. Thursday and today (Friday) have been lazy lazy days. There was a wine tasting session that I had planned on going to, but shortly soon after realized I was still not able to drink... So I missed out on that excursion. Bummer, but I think my SLA said she would do it again, so I will definitely be attending the next time she coordinates it.
Today we had plans of going to H & M, and getting chinese food, but for some reason the rainy season has given us all a hard hit of fatigue and serious lack of motivation. So laundry, homework, catching up on the news were in the mix, and its going to be an early night as well. We are off to Florence at 5 am tomorrow morning! We hope to catch a 7 o'clock train and get in by 11 and explore the rest of the day! I'm very excited. We will hopefully go to Pisa on Sunday as well to see the leaning tower. I will write about Florence soon!
With much love,
Nora Claire.
P.S. This blog was obviously supposed to be posted on Friday night, but the internet has been overly spuratic and non-existent at times. So forgive the confusion. Hope everyone had a great weekend! TIme for another depressing movie tonight!
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Venti Uno. Happy 21st Birthday.
So we arrived back late on Sunday, and at midnight on Sunday it would be my 21st birthday. We all came back, ate dinner, got settled in, took a nap so we could have at least a mini celebration when the clock struck 12. Lauren got home a couple hours earlier than our group because she and a few others took a cab. So on our commute back she had run to the store, picked up a mini cake and a bottle of champagne. Absolutely adorable and incredibly generous of her. I mean we have only known eachother for 3 weeks, and she made sure I had a cake and everything. We hung out down in Renaldo's till about 11:45 and while everyone else went for a cigarette I came back up to my room. Right at midnight everyone came in, popped the bottle of champagne, sang happy birthday 3 times, and made me blow out the candles more than once as well. It was really really adorable actually. I was really touched by the efforts made by those who I have only known for such a short period of time. Inspired by Arthur's video, they all sang "My Girl" to me, but replaced the lyrics with "Talkin' about Nora...." and danced along for the entire song. Wonderful way to begin my 21st birthday. I have also never received so many birthday wishes in my entire life. I got over 80 happy birthdays on facebook, and over 30 emails. So for those of you who are reading this, and I didn't respond to you via facebook or email. Thank you. I am truly grateful. It meant the world to me.
Anyways, the rest of the day went by fairly normal. Went to class, ate lunch, did some homework, hung out, went to dinner etc etc. Then it was time to go get the alcohol everyone was busy trying to get their homework done to prepare themselves to spend the rest of their monday night out. So I went to get the wine and booze myself. This ended up being a wonderful decision. First, I got a better feel for the neighborhood I live in, as well as developing a close relationship with the guy who owns the Inoteca-the wine shop. The wine shop has been in their family for over 55 years, and has been passed down through 3 generations. Anyways, I told him it was my 21st birthday so he generously shared an $80 dollar bottle of wine with me. He proceeded to give me an extensive wine tasting lesson. It was an absolute blast. I got try sweet and dry wine, swirl it, smell it, taste it, and even examine it under the light. It was such a unexpected and pleasant birthday treat. While I was there another older man came in to purchase a bottle of wine, he seemed to be a regular. I started talking to him and explaining why I was in Rome and what I was studying. When I told him I was studying Italian film he was overjoyed and mentioned that he was an actor. After he left, the store owner bragged by showing me that this man was who did the voice dubbing for all of George Clooney's movies! He also does Tom Hanks voice-over for Forest Gump. All in all the trip to the liquor store was much more than originally expected and quite the pleasant surprise.
I got back, told my story, and began getting ready. Sorry to family for putting some explicit details in here, but it was my 21st birthday. I was fortunate enough to get to take a shot with a few important people via Skype before going out to celebrate my 21st birthday! It was really comforting and sweet to be able to experience it from a few from home, even if they were forced to take a shot at 3 in the afternoon. Thank you. Anyways, we had a crew of about 10 people who were going out on a Monday night, just to celebrate my birthday. I was seriously honored, and had such little expectations of this day that I was blown away each time something really wonderful worked out. We got slightly lost on the way to the Ice Bar, but eventually found it in a hidden alley right by the Colosseum. It was mandatory to wear these huge metallic shawls that velcroed shut, as well as gloves, both of which they provided before entering the igloo. You went through 2 sets of glass doors and all of the sudden it was 23 degrees and everything was made out of ice. The bar, the fancy martini glasses, the floor, the benches, the separated rooms. On top of that, there were lights behind the ice which rotated through a spectrum of colors. Every color you could imagine. I had a rainbow filled 21st birthday, and again for those of you who know me, know how much I love rainbows! Such a colorful night!
We got a couple rounds of free drinks, danced around, and took a million photos. I think I got a drink of every color and I was done for. Heels and ice don't mix very well, especially on one's 21st birthday. I fell on my knees about 10 times which were unfortunately bruised for about 3 days after. Because its so cold, people usually only last about an hour inside this massive igloo, so I was ready to leave after exactly one hour. They had even popped a bottle of champagne for me but I was already on my way out the door. In fact I ran towards the door, somehow forgot that the glass doors were still there and literally ran straight into it. HARD. I had a bump on my head for the following 3 days as well. Needless to say it was a wonderful, colorful, and somewhat painful birthday. Much better than I expected.
Tuesday was a boring day, not much happened aside from watching one of the most depressing movies of my life. It's called Children are Watching Us, by Vittorio De Sicca. We just watched another tonight (Tuesday February 3rd) which was just as depressing if not more so. Kids either die, or get abandoned by their parents, or are exposed to things they should never be exposed to. Although the films are good, I would never recommend De Sicca because they put us all in a very solemn mood.
Wednesday was a good day! Lauren and I finally acquainted ourselves with the Balduina neighborhood. We walked down to Upim and got ourselves a vibrant rug to warm up our room. We also got some groceries, juice and crackers, and she got a bottle of Nutella which was gone by the end of the day. She really screwed us over on that one. We are all now addicted. One of the most rich and delicious treats I have ever experienced. Anyways, then we walked down to the Balduina piazza and saw all the little stores and hip shops. There are a lot of intimate stores where they only sell female underwear. Its like a bunch of Victoria Secret's everywhere. We are all a little bit weirded out by the concept.
Lauren's favorite food is pizza, so we HAD to stop for pizza on the way back. This ended up being the best decision of our adventure. First of all, most delicious Italian pizza either of us have had yet. Incredibly fresh tomatoes, basil, and mozzerella cheese. I wasn't a huge fan of the cheese, but the vegetables were filled with potent flavor. As we were sitting there, the guy who worked behind the counter started talking with us in english. I guess he had lived in London for 2 months so he could communicate with us a bit. Best young Italian I have met so far. He was incredibly sweet, helpful, genuine, and not a creep at all. He also dressed like a normal person, rather than flaunting all the highest brand names on his shirt, pants, or shoes. We talked with him about the limited night life and he gave us options of where we could go and what we could do. He grew up here and said that he has never found Rome to be the most fun place to live. I feel as though I keep hearing the same thing over and over again. I thought that it might just be because we are in this bubble of American students out in a rich suburb, but I think no matter how hard you try its gonna be a major struggle. There is even a girl here fluent in Italian and she is genuinely upset because she can't find anyone to speak Italian with. They either want to go home with you or are not interested (sorry to be blunt).
Anyways, we found out his name was Walter (though its pronounced 100% differently in Italian) and that he works everyday from 12-10pm except Mondays. So we figure we will go visit our new friend and maybe he can help us with our Italian as well as take rely on him to take us out out and show us what this city is really about! As we were headed back, I bought a neon limegreen scarf. It seemed highly appropriate and it was only 4 euro! We had to make it back in time for Lauren's class at 5 so we hurried back, had dinner and hung out until Calcio!!!
First of all, I am on the PINK team!! I am more than thrilled for this simple fact. We got ourselves prepared to work out for the first time in ages and make a complete fool of ourselves. We were running late per usual so we had to run half way there, we laughed as we did so because we were utterly confused as to what our lives were coming to? Running down the streets of Rome to play Calcio? I hate running. Anyways, our games started at 8:30 while others had started at 7:30 so we got to see the last few minutes of the prior games. We were Rosa, and we played against Rosso (the red team). Their team is STACKED. They have at least 3 players on their team who play soccer for the Loyola Club soccer team, as well as Todd Whaller who I am sure has played ever since he started working here. It was somewhat unfair, but we held our own and only lost 5 to 4. Despite the imbalance in talent I had a BLAST. I hadn't played soccer in years, aside from the brief game in Jamaica and I couldn't have enjoyed myself more. I got an incredible work out because I was on the field about 85% of the game. We were missing some players, plus we had one or two team members who refused to play against such a good team. Again, despite all that I had a wonderful wonderful time. (Every muscle in my body felt like daggers were being stabbed through them for the next 5 days).
Afterwards is the weekly tradition of Beer and Pizza. Its about a 10 minute walk, and it is 10 euros for a stein of beer as well as your own massive pizza. Everyone attends to celebrate, socialize, and gorge themselves with pizza and beer after a strenuous work out. Somewhat of a complex course of events, but fun despite it all. Lauren and I weren't drinking or eating, and got cold after about an hour of sitting outside so we decided to walk home on our own. This was a BAD idea. We got lost in the northern part of Monte Mario for about 45 minutes. Following the 990 bus stops hoping to eventually arrive back at Via Massimi. We walked and walked and walked, realizing if we had just waited for the others we probably would have made it home already. Neither Lauren nor I really minded the walk. One of the goals is to get lost while traveling, so we got lost, found a wonderful view of Rome, and saw more of the rich neighborhood and finally made it back by 12:30.
Thursday was another calm day; class, lunch, and that night was the dinner for the Mass of the Holy Spirit. Nika and I skipped out on the mass and went for the delicious dinner. Best Italian meal I have had yet. We had delicious bread that looked Matza-ish. Unlimited wine. Delicious breaded red peppers. These famous Italian things called Suppli, its a round fried ball of rice and cheese, people here love it! Once again I unfortunately don't like cheese. There were several other courses considering it was a 4 course meal, but there was so much food I can't remember what all was eaten. I do know that it was topped off with a wonderful lime gelato. It was a fabulous dinner for everyone at the JFRC to participate in. We bussed home and it was FREEZING, though I probably shouldn't complain since there are those of you who are in below zero degree weather.
Anyways, this brings me all the way up to friday, so I think I will stop here and work on the weekend slash the beginning of this week (it is 4 am on wednesday morning here) tomorrow. Glad to be finally catching up with you all.
Much love from raining Rome.
Nora
OOOooooh. PS. Lauren just informed me that our wednesday adventure actually occurred on Friday. Too much work to rework the whole blog, but just know after class we lazed, went to dinner, then calcio. The Balduina excursion starts 'technically' in tomorrows blog. I hope this makes sense. Ciao e Buona Notte!
Anyways, the rest of the day went by fairly normal. Went to class, ate lunch, did some homework, hung out, went to dinner etc etc. Then it was time to go get the alcohol everyone was busy trying to get their homework done to prepare themselves to spend the rest of their monday night out. So I went to get the wine and booze myself. This ended up being a wonderful decision. First, I got a better feel for the neighborhood I live in, as well as developing a close relationship with the guy who owns the Inoteca-the wine shop. The wine shop has been in their family for over 55 years, and has been passed down through 3 generations. Anyways, I told him it was my 21st birthday so he generously shared an $80 dollar bottle of wine with me. He proceeded to give me an extensive wine tasting lesson. It was an absolute blast. I got try sweet and dry wine, swirl it, smell it, taste it, and even examine it under the light. It was such a unexpected and pleasant birthday treat. While I was there another older man came in to purchase a bottle of wine, he seemed to be a regular. I started talking to him and explaining why I was in Rome and what I was studying. When I told him I was studying Italian film he was overjoyed and mentioned that he was an actor. After he left, the store owner bragged by showing me that this man was who did the voice dubbing for all of George Clooney's movies! He also does Tom Hanks voice-over for Forest Gump. All in all the trip to the liquor store was much more than originally expected and quite the pleasant surprise.
I got back, told my story, and began getting ready. Sorry to family for putting some explicit details in here, but it was my 21st birthday. I was fortunate enough to get to take a shot with a few important people via Skype before going out to celebrate my 21st birthday! It was really comforting and sweet to be able to experience it from a few from home, even if they were forced to take a shot at 3 in the afternoon. Thank you. Anyways, we had a crew of about 10 people who were going out on a Monday night, just to celebrate my birthday. I was seriously honored, and had such little expectations of this day that I was blown away each time something really wonderful worked out. We got slightly lost on the way to the Ice Bar, but eventually found it in a hidden alley right by the Colosseum. It was mandatory to wear these huge metallic shawls that velcroed shut, as well as gloves, both of which they provided before entering the igloo. You went through 2 sets of glass doors and all of the sudden it was 23 degrees and everything was made out of ice. The bar, the fancy martini glasses, the floor, the benches, the separated rooms. On top of that, there were lights behind the ice which rotated through a spectrum of colors. Every color you could imagine. I had a rainbow filled 21st birthday, and again for those of you who know me, know how much I love rainbows! Such a colorful night!
We got a couple rounds of free drinks, danced around, and took a million photos. I think I got a drink of every color and I was done for. Heels and ice don't mix very well, especially on one's 21st birthday. I fell on my knees about 10 times which were unfortunately bruised for about 3 days after. Because its so cold, people usually only last about an hour inside this massive igloo, so I was ready to leave after exactly one hour. They had even popped a bottle of champagne for me but I was already on my way out the door. In fact I ran towards the door, somehow forgot that the glass doors were still there and literally ran straight into it. HARD. I had a bump on my head for the following 3 days as well. Needless to say it was a wonderful, colorful, and somewhat painful birthday. Much better than I expected.
Tuesday was a boring day, not much happened aside from watching one of the most depressing movies of my life. It's called Children are Watching Us, by Vittorio De Sicca. We just watched another tonight (Tuesday February 3rd) which was just as depressing if not more so. Kids either die, or get abandoned by their parents, or are exposed to things they should never be exposed to. Although the films are good, I would never recommend De Sicca because they put us all in a very solemn mood.
Wednesday was a good day! Lauren and I finally acquainted ourselves with the Balduina neighborhood. We walked down to Upim and got ourselves a vibrant rug to warm up our room. We also got some groceries, juice and crackers, and she got a bottle of Nutella which was gone by the end of the day. She really screwed us over on that one. We are all now addicted. One of the most rich and delicious treats I have ever experienced. Anyways, then we walked down to the Balduina piazza and saw all the little stores and hip shops. There are a lot of intimate stores where they only sell female underwear. Its like a bunch of Victoria Secret's everywhere. We are all a little bit weirded out by the concept.
Lauren's favorite food is pizza, so we HAD to stop for pizza on the way back. This ended up being the best decision of our adventure. First of all, most delicious Italian pizza either of us have had yet. Incredibly fresh tomatoes, basil, and mozzerella cheese. I wasn't a huge fan of the cheese, but the vegetables were filled with potent flavor. As we were sitting there, the guy who worked behind the counter started talking with us in english. I guess he had lived in London for 2 months so he could communicate with us a bit. Best young Italian I have met so far. He was incredibly sweet, helpful, genuine, and not a creep at all. He also dressed like a normal person, rather than flaunting all the highest brand names on his shirt, pants, or shoes. We talked with him about the limited night life and he gave us options of where we could go and what we could do. He grew up here and said that he has never found Rome to be the most fun place to live. I feel as though I keep hearing the same thing over and over again. I thought that it might just be because we are in this bubble of American students out in a rich suburb, but I think no matter how hard you try its gonna be a major struggle. There is even a girl here fluent in Italian and she is genuinely upset because she can't find anyone to speak Italian with. They either want to go home with you or are not interested (sorry to be blunt).
Anyways, we found out his name was Walter (though its pronounced 100% differently in Italian) and that he works everyday from 12-10pm except Mondays. So we figure we will go visit our new friend and maybe he can help us with our Italian as well as take rely on him to take us out out and show us what this city is really about! As we were headed back, I bought a neon limegreen scarf. It seemed highly appropriate and it was only 4 euro! We had to make it back in time for Lauren's class at 5 so we hurried back, had dinner and hung out until Calcio!!!
First of all, I am on the PINK team!! I am more than thrilled for this simple fact. We got ourselves prepared to work out for the first time in ages and make a complete fool of ourselves. We were running late per usual so we had to run half way there, we laughed as we did so because we were utterly confused as to what our lives were coming to? Running down the streets of Rome to play Calcio? I hate running. Anyways, our games started at 8:30 while others had started at 7:30 so we got to see the last few minutes of the prior games. We were Rosa, and we played against Rosso (the red team). Their team is STACKED. They have at least 3 players on their team who play soccer for the Loyola Club soccer team, as well as Todd Whaller who I am sure has played ever since he started working here. It was somewhat unfair, but we held our own and only lost 5 to 4. Despite the imbalance in talent I had a BLAST. I hadn't played soccer in years, aside from the brief game in Jamaica and I couldn't have enjoyed myself more. I got an incredible work out because I was on the field about 85% of the game. We were missing some players, plus we had one or two team members who refused to play against such a good team. Again, despite all that I had a wonderful wonderful time. (Every muscle in my body felt like daggers were being stabbed through them for the next 5 days).
Afterwards is the weekly tradition of Beer and Pizza. Its about a 10 minute walk, and it is 10 euros for a stein of beer as well as your own massive pizza. Everyone attends to celebrate, socialize, and gorge themselves with pizza and beer after a strenuous work out. Somewhat of a complex course of events, but fun despite it all. Lauren and I weren't drinking or eating, and got cold after about an hour of sitting outside so we decided to walk home on our own. This was a BAD idea. We got lost in the northern part of Monte Mario for about 45 minutes. Following the 990 bus stops hoping to eventually arrive back at Via Massimi. We walked and walked and walked, realizing if we had just waited for the others we probably would have made it home already. Neither Lauren nor I really minded the walk. One of the goals is to get lost while traveling, so we got lost, found a wonderful view of Rome, and saw more of the rich neighborhood and finally made it back by 12:30.
Thursday was another calm day; class, lunch, and that night was the dinner for the Mass of the Holy Spirit. Nika and I skipped out on the mass and went for the delicious dinner. Best Italian meal I have had yet. We had delicious bread that looked Matza-ish. Unlimited wine. Delicious breaded red peppers. These famous Italian things called Suppli, its a round fried ball of rice and cheese, people here love it! Once again I unfortunately don't like cheese. There were several other courses considering it was a 4 course meal, but there was so much food I can't remember what all was eaten. I do know that it was topped off with a wonderful lime gelato. It was a fabulous dinner for everyone at the JFRC to participate in. We bussed home and it was FREEZING, though I probably shouldn't complain since there are those of you who are in below zero degree weather.
Anyways, this brings me all the way up to friday, so I think I will stop here and work on the weekend slash the beginning of this week (it is 4 am on wednesday morning here) tomorrow. Glad to be finally catching up with you all.
Much love from raining Rome.
Nora
OOOooooh. PS. Lauren just informed me that our wednesday adventure actually occurred on Friday. Too much work to rework the whole blog, but just know after class we lazed, went to dinner, then calcio. The Balduina excursion starts 'technically' in tomorrows blog. I hope this makes sense. Ciao e Buona Notte!
Barcelona Dreams.
It's been so long since I have written I don't even know where to begin. But I think Barcelona is a good start, and fairly close to where I left off last time.
First of all Barcelona was amazing and a blast. It began with waking up roughly 2 hours after going to bed, and me having to stuff my entire sleeping into my no where near compatible backpack. I had to sit on my back pack and stuff it in with my foot in order to make it fit. Ryanair only allows one suitcase which has to be approximately 1x1 ft. (Slightly exaggerated, but still). I need comfort while sleeping so I had to bring it, Lauren also encouraged the idea. We took a cab there which was simple and easy. Checked in and were on our way shortly after. I slept the whole plane ride there considering I was extremely sleep deprived. Once we landed we were all talking about how excited we were to get countless stamps from so many European countries. But we were promptly informed that within the European Union no stamps will be provided. The people at the airport actually laughed in our faces when we asked if we could receive them.
The trip from the airport to our hostel was hell to say the least. (Excuse my language). First, we got separated from two of our travel partners on the first hour and a half bus to get to the city center. Then, once we arrived, somehow not 1 of the 13 of us had directions on how to get to the hostel. So we called Barcelona Dreams (the name of our hostel) several times, as well as paying a euro to look up directions on the internet at the bus depot. After about an hour of confusion, we found our way to the Metra. That was a whole other disaster. First we had no idea how to manage the Metra in Barcelona. So we all bought tickets. All 13 of us. We decided to manage our group we would count off numbers so when we finally were able to head to a destination we could call off numbers and if a number in 1-13 was missing we would know to go back and/or wait. Once we finally arrived at the train where we were supposed to get on, our tickets didn't work for the entry of that specific train. So all 13 of us had to buy tickets again! Nika and I were the first through and as we were standing there a man came up and started tugging on the back of her sweater. He looked disgusted and pointed to her shoulder aggressively where someone had spit all over her. He even got my attention to show me what he had noticed. So I helped her clean it off, and moved on without really understanding what had just happened. We were slightly disgusted and concerned as to who would do such a thing, but sleep deprivation makes these little things seem irrelevant. Especially when trying to manage 13 people. Once everyone got their tickets we headed down to the Metra, and as we were waiting Nika felt in her purse and realized her wallet was gone. She and 2 others ran up to try and see if she had left it behind, but to no avail. We realized too little too late that the scum bag who had spit on her sweater had stolen her wallet. 200 euro cash gone, plus her debit card, credit card, license, and all the other important documents a wallet usually contains.
It was incredibly unfortunate, but she handled it like a trooper. I would have been balling but she was was just fine. We finally arrived at the Barcelona Dreams, an adorable hostel. I haven't stayed at many hostels, but it was definitely a youth hostel with lots of young 20 year olds traveling Europe. We met one girl named Vanessa who was from Canada, she was a real cool chick. We talked about national health care, the war, the oxymoron of people believing in war and the death penalty versus opposing abortion etc. I always enjoy those talks, especially with intelligent people who are on the same page as me.
We also ran to the supermarcado a couple blocks down. We were all starving, so I bought some salami, tucs (the european brand of Ritz crackers), and Zumo. Zumo is juice in Catalan. Arriving in Barcelona and being able to speak the language was an incredible relief for me. The language barrier had been broken and I could finally communicate with people. Until I slowly realized, everything was in Catalan. I asked where the Jugo was, and the store manager had absolutely no idea what I was talking about. Only temporarily had I felt the brief satisfaction of comprehending the language I was surrounded by. Anyways, we also later met an Australian guy named Coffee (weird right?) who had been traveling Europe for the past 4 months or so as well. Coffee and Vanessa had met somewhere along the way and re-met up in Barcelona to continue traveling together until he left. After snacks, we drank some wine and headed out for the night.
Friday night we attacked Las Ramblas. The main street that leads the night life, which runs straight into the Mediterranean. It was a beautiful area, lots of tiny streets to walk down, full and energetic night life, and friendly faces left and right. It was a pleasant change from the dull night life in Rome, and the slightly pretencious Italians. We stopped in a couple bars and eventually made it home by 5 am. The next morning we were all slightly too hung over to get an early start, but most of us were ready by about noon. Let me just say here, I will never again travel with such a large group. Not only did we have our group of 13, we met others there who were studying abroad in different parts of Spain. We weren't able to get out of the hostel and into town until 2 o'clock. So, we hopped on an overpriced tour bus and hit all the main Barcelona tour spots.
First stop was Sagrada de la Familia by Antoni Gaudi. The construction of the temple began in 1882, and it is still a work in progress. He worked on it for over 40 years until he died in 1926. The overall plan of the church was based on the use of innovative geometrical shapes of naturalistic style. There are 12 belltowers within the church that are all above 100 meters tall that take form of trees, with designs on the ceiling that resemble leaves. The continuation of the construction is financially supported by the donations of tourists visiting the church. It was one of the most beautiful pieces of architecture I have ever seen. The value of nature within the structure put us all in awe. Next and last stop was Parc de Guel, also done by Gaudi. Aside from nature, mosaics was another artistic passion of his. I love mosaics. Probably one of my top favorite artistic forms. The park was huge, and at the top of a hill which had an epic view of the entire city as well as the Mediterranean. Full of grass, flowers, trees, fountains, and other structures designed and covered in mosaics. There was a cool, hip, and beautiful woman who was maybe a couple years older than us sitting at the park making unique and gorgeous jewelry. Katie and I sat and talked with her for a while, where she informed us about a rave happening in the city later that night (which we did not attend). Needless to say we both ended up buying some incredible rings from her. Only draw back is she promised us several times that is was pure silver which was the only reason we felt inclined to spend 20 euro. Yet within a couple hours my finger had already turned green. Bummer. I don't know why I am always so trusting with strangers. We had a fun photo shoot around the park and in front of the city scape before we were on our way. A little fun fact about this park: for all you America's Next Top Model watchers, this park is where they did a runway for the ghost brides dresses. I had no idea but there were some girls with us who were super hyped about that fact.
We made our way back down the hill and hopped back on the double decker bus where we sat on the second level and watched the city fly by. The wind was brutal, but we pushed through it so we could tour the city and see the sights from 30 feet up. It was more than a good time. Though we did see several trees down, and heard later on that 4 teenagers had been killed from the strong wind. I never knew that we could find another equally windy city across the world. We finally got back to Barcelona Dreams by around 8, hung out for a while, and decided to do our birthday dinner celebration at some place near by. Kaela, Amanda, Katie, Nick, Nika, Lauren, and I got a delicious dinner by around 11 o'clock. Typical time for a a dinner in Barcelona. We sang happy birthday a couple times, drank a couple bottles of wine, and headed out to face the Barcelona night life once again. We ended up back at Las Ramblas where we met up with a friend from back home Jane, who is actually studying in Barcelona. We also went to a nice laid back bar with couches and cool artwork on the walls. It was called the Flamingo bar. It was a perfect last night to end our adventures in Barcelona. We didn't go to sleep till about 6 am, and had to be up at 9 to catch the Metra, to catch the bus, to catch our flight in time. I never knew how complex traveling is when you don't have someone planning it all step by step for you.
We were all slightly sad to leave Barcelona after such an incredible time, where the people were fun, and we could communicate with natives. We all hope to return before we head back to the states whenever that may be.
First of all Barcelona was amazing and a blast. It began with waking up roughly 2 hours after going to bed, and me having to stuff my entire sleeping into my no where near compatible backpack. I had to sit on my back pack and stuff it in with my foot in order to make it fit. Ryanair only allows one suitcase which has to be approximately 1x1 ft. (Slightly exaggerated, but still). I need comfort while sleeping so I had to bring it, Lauren also encouraged the idea. We took a cab there which was simple and easy. Checked in and were on our way shortly after. I slept the whole plane ride there considering I was extremely sleep deprived. Once we landed we were all talking about how excited we were to get countless stamps from so many European countries. But we were promptly informed that within the European Union no stamps will be provided. The people at the airport actually laughed in our faces when we asked if we could receive them.
The trip from the airport to our hostel was hell to say the least. (Excuse my language). First, we got separated from two of our travel partners on the first hour and a half bus to get to the city center. Then, once we arrived, somehow not 1 of the 13 of us had directions on how to get to the hostel. So we called Barcelona Dreams (the name of our hostel) several times, as well as paying a euro to look up directions on the internet at the bus depot. After about an hour of confusion, we found our way to the Metra. That was a whole other disaster. First we had no idea how to manage the Metra in Barcelona. So we all bought tickets. All 13 of us. We decided to manage our group we would count off numbers so when we finally were able to head to a destination we could call off numbers and if a number in 1-13 was missing we would know to go back and/or wait. Once we finally arrived at the train where we were supposed to get on, our tickets didn't work for the entry of that specific train. So all 13 of us had to buy tickets again! Nika and I were the first through and as we were standing there a man came up and started tugging on the back of her sweater. He looked disgusted and pointed to her shoulder aggressively where someone had spit all over her. He even got my attention to show me what he had noticed. So I helped her clean it off, and moved on without really understanding what had just happened. We were slightly disgusted and concerned as to who would do such a thing, but sleep deprivation makes these little things seem irrelevant. Especially when trying to manage 13 people. Once everyone got their tickets we headed down to the Metra, and as we were waiting Nika felt in her purse and realized her wallet was gone. She and 2 others ran up to try and see if she had left it behind, but to no avail. We realized too little too late that the scum bag who had spit on her sweater had stolen her wallet. 200 euro cash gone, plus her debit card, credit card, license, and all the other important documents a wallet usually contains.
It was incredibly unfortunate, but she handled it like a trooper. I would have been balling but she was was just fine. We finally arrived at the Barcelona Dreams, an adorable hostel. I haven't stayed at many hostels, but it was definitely a youth hostel with lots of young 20 year olds traveling Europe. We met one girl named Vanessa who was from Canada, she was a real cool chick. We talked about national health care, the war, the oxymoron of people believing in war and the death penalty versus opposing abortion etc. I always enjoy those talks, especially with intelligent people who are on the same page as me.
We also ran to the supermarcado a couple blocks down. We were all starving, so I bought some salami, tucs (the european brand of Ritz crackers), and Zumo. Zumo is juice in Catalan. Arriving in Barcelona and being able to speak the language was an incredible relief for me. The language barrier had been broken and I could finally communicate with people. Until I slowly realized, everything was in Catalan. I asked where the Jugo was, and the store manager had absolutely no idea what I was talking about. Only temporarily had I felt the brief satisfaction of comprehending the language I was surrounded by. Anyways, we also later met an Australian guy named Coffee (weird right?) who had been traveling Europe for the past 4 months or so as well. Coffee and Vanessa had met somewhere along the way and re-met up in Barcelona to continue traveling together until he left. After snacks, we drank some wine and headed out for the night.
Friday night we attacked Las Ramblas. The main street that leads the night life, which runs straight into the Mediterranean. It was a beautiful area, lots of tiny streets to walk down, full and energetic night life, and friendly faces left and right. It was a pleasant change from the dull night life in Rome, and the slightly pretencious Italians. We stopped in a couple bars and eventually made it home by 5 am. The next morning we were all slightly too hung over to get an early start, but most of us were ready by about noon. Let me just say here, I will never again travel with such a large group. Not only did we have our group of 13, we met others there who were studying abroad in different parts of Spain. We weren't able to get out of the hostel and into town until 2 o'clock. So, we hopped on an overpriced tour bus and hit all the main Barcelona tour spots.
First stop was Sagrada de la Familia by Antoni Gaudi. The construction of the temple began in 1882, and it is still a work in progress. He worked on it for over 40 years until he died in 1926. The overall plan of the church was based on the use of innovative geometrical shapes of naturalistic style. There are 12 belltowers within the church that are all above 100 meters tall that take form of trees, with designs on the ceiling that resemble leaves. The continuation of the construction is financially supported by the donations of tourists visiting the church. It was one of the most beautiful pieces of architecture I have ever seen. The value of nature within the structure put us all in awe. Next and last stop was Parc de Guel, also done by Gaudi. Aside from nature, mosaics was another artistic passion of his. I love mosaics. Probably one of my top favorite artistic forms. The park was huge, and at the top of a hill which had an epic view of the entire city as well as the Mediterranean. Full of grass, flowers, trees, fountains, and other structures designed and covered in mosaics. There was a cool, hip, and beautiful woman who was maybe a couple years older than us sitting at the park making unique and gorgeous jewelry. Katie and I sat and talked with her for a while, where she informed us about a rave happening in the city later that night (which we did not attend). Needless to say we both ended up buying some incredible rings from her. Only draw back is she promised us several times that is was pure silver which was the only reason we felt inclined to spend 20 euro. Yet within a couple hours my finger had already turned green. Bummer. I don't know why I am always so trusting with strangers. We had a fun photo shoot around the park and in front of the city scape before we were on our way. A little fun fact about this park: for all you America's Next Top Model watchers, this park is where they did a runway for the ghost brides dresses. I had no idea but there were some girls with us who were super hyped about that fact.
We made our way back down the hill and hopped back on the double decker bus where we sat on the second level and watched the city fly by. The wind was brutal, but we pushed through it so we could tour the city and see the sights from 30 feet up. It was more than a good time. Though we did see several trees down, and heard later on that 4 teenagers had been killed from the strong wind. I never knew that we could find another equally windy city across the world. We finally got back to Barcelona Dreams by around 8, hung out for a while, and decided to do our birthday dinner celebration at some place near by. Kaela, Amanda, Katie, Nick, Nika, Lauren, and I got a delicious dinner by around 11 o'clock. Typical time for a a dinner in Barcelona. We sang happy birthday a couple times, drank a couple bottles of wine, and headed out to face the Barcelona night life once again. We ended up back at Las Ramblas where we met up with a friend from back home Jane, who is actually studying in Barcelona. We also went to a nice laid back bar with couches and cool artwork on the walls. It was called the Flamingo bar. It was a perfect last night to end our adventures in Barcelona. We didn't go to sleep till about 6 am, and had to be up at 9 to catch the Metra, to catch the bus, to catch our flight in time. I never knew how complex traveling is when you don't have someone planning it all step by step for you.
We were all slightly sad to leave Barcelona after such an incredible time, where the people were fun, and we could communicate with natives. We all hope to return before we head back to the states whenever that may be.
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