E.T.

Tuesday, April 26th

...I was at a complete loss for words and couldn't gather my thoughts at all so I said, "He's awesome. I believe in Him." Ugh… what?? I have no idea if that made any sense of if that even answered the question but what I do know is that I had the perfect chance to say something profound about God that could really get someone interested in learning more about faith and Christianity and I blew it. Sorry about that, JC.

After stopping to grab a few night pics at the Colosseum, we jumped on the metro to get to get to the bus to walk to the hotel. The only problem with this plan was that we had absolutely no idea the name of the stop closest to our hotel. So we found the bus we had taken to get to Anagnina that morning and we asked the driver what stop we needed. He listed a few routes that would stop near our hotel but we had a difficult time finding a bus listed on the screen that went to those stops. This whole process is taking about 40 minutes and Jared is frantically searching his phone to find the number of the hotel to get a definitive route all the while we're trying to make it back by 10:30pm so that we can eat at the hotel restaurant - of course Jared was hungry - and I was finding the whole fiasco thoroughly entertaining while trying to contain my laughter as to not aggravate him more. Hysterical. Needless to say we eventually found the right bus and made it to our stop and even made it to the hotel restaurant as Jared witnessed my potty dance/wrist grabbing for the first time. [Side Note: Any girl who has known me for a significant amount of time has seen this dance. In high school it was actually a full on workout regimen as I would do lunges in the hallway on the way to the restroom. Comical for most I'm sure. I blame my mother for my peanut bladder.] 

Dinner was sufficient and filling and it was a pleasant way to end the night. [Side Note: This is around the time that Jared concluded that Italian water tastes funny. I didn't see anything wrong with it but he commented on its bizarre flavor for the rest of our time in Italy.]

Wednesday, April 27th

We actually got up the next morning just in the nick of time to make it to breakfast and after enjoying a few pieces of honey toast, showering/getting ready, and recording Rachel's SCend-off speech, we headed for the bus. This particular day required us to wait about 45 minutes for the bus but the sun was shining and Jared wasn't complaining so I was a happy camper. Our first stop was the Trevi Fountain where we each made a wish (can't tell you mine but it's real good) and attempted to have a mini photo shoot. This poor woman had to wait like 3 minutes for all of these rude people to stop walking in front of us so she could take our picture - thanks lady. I really love all of the photos we took but the one I loved most had this random girl in the background because for some reason she thought it was be a good idea to plop down on the fountain just as we were taking the picture. Boo. But my expert photo editing skills eliminated her with ease. Go me!

We were attempting to make the 11am Colosseum tour but after we had waited an extra 15 minutes for this woman and her son to grab some McDonalds, I had to go to the bathroom. Literally in the 2 minutes that I was gone, the tour left! Rude. We waited for those other people for so long but they couldn't wait for me?  Über rude. We attempted to find them for a few minutes but were unsuccessful. Whatevs. We just decided to go on our own. On the way we walked through Piazza del Quirinale, where there happened to be a ton of police blocking off the square, but before actually making it to the Colosseum, can you guess what happened? That's right. We needed to stop to eat. This was actually the best call we made for any meal in Rome. I have no idea the name of this place but it was right near the Colosseum (and Jared's favorite gelato place) and it was awesome! I had a ham and cheese calzone and Jared had lasagna. I'm pretty sure we had one meal there every day for the rest of the trip.

After lunch we walked over to the Colosseum and contemplated paying to go inside but just then it started to rain so that made the choice easier and we postponed the Colosseum. Due to the rain we immediately made the mecca back to the hotel room and had dinner at the hotel restaurant. This night I tried the Italian steak which was so dry and bland that it was a serious struggle to finish it. [Side Note: I have not had good experiences with most steaks in Europe. Medium well doesn't seem to exist so it's either bleeding or so dried out that I'm gnawing on a rubber tire. Terrible. Mom, fried steaks when I get home?]

That night we listened to a lot of bad Italian rap, discovered Katy Perry's E.T., watched Lady Gaga's Born This Way video about 700 times on MTV, and started Gladiator. Could there be a more fitting movie to watch in Rome. 

Thursday, April 28th

The next day the sun was shining again and there was little threat of rain which made it the perfect day to visit the Colosseum. We passed the "Fall of Rome" wall which is a depiction of the massive decrease (or increase) in Roman territory throughout history. Rome most definitely was not built in a day. [Side Note: SPQR is the initial for a Latin phrase Senatus Populusque Romanus meaning "The Senate and People of Rome" and refers to the government of the ancient Roman Republic, and is used as an official emblem of the modern day commune of Rome. Yeah, Ken Jennings don't want none of me.]

The Colosseum was incredible and it was surreal to be standing there looking out onto the grounds where so much blood was shed oh so many years ago. Crazy. We took a lot of great pictures, met some nice people (i.e. the woman that called me beautiful and the cute couple for whom I offered to take a picture), and spent a good amount of time just admiring the history of the structure. I will admit I'm still partial to my own Coliseum but this one is an extremely remarkable.

We made it an early night after that and retreated to more Gladiator, Sporcle, and yummy restaurant potatoes. Mm mm good.

Friday, April 29th

Very surprisingly, we got up quite early (like 8am) and had enough time to have breakfast at the hotel and make it to the Spanish Steps for the start of the Vatican tour. It was the same free tour company that we experienced on Tuesday and missed on Wednesday so we knew the drill. On the tour we saw the Mausoleo Augusto, Ara Pacis museum, and walked down this street full of expensive designers - it was B-E-A-utiful. Unfortunately the actual information given wasn't particularly interesting and the best part of the tour didn't even have to do with the tour. 

Near the end of the tour, we started to doubt whether it was worth paying for so when Jared and I tried to ditch the group. But when we finally emerged at the crosswalk, the tour guide had held up the group on the other side of the street to wait for us. Why are people so considerate? 

We waited in line to go inside the church which wasn't very long and totally free (works for me) but there were a lot of people there due to the Beautification of John Paul II (still don't really understand this). [Side Note: I hate large throngs of people. It gives me anxiety.] When we got inside, shockingly I wasn't very moved by this cathedral. It's the largest church interior in the world and I just wasn't super impressed. It was definitely grand but other than that, it was just another place of worship to me. Anywho...

When we got outside, though the sun was out it was sprinkling just enough to need my umbrella. Boo. When we left the Vatican we wanted a quick lunch before heading to this large park near Vatican City and Jared made the executive decision to eat at this little outdoor shop we passed along the way. Terrible call on his part! We both ordered the ravioli and it was awful! It was literally served in a plastic bowl and most of mine was cold and hard. I'm pretty sure it came right out of the freezer and was put in the microwave. I'm not even positive that the meat inside the ravioli was beef. Even Chef Boyardee would have turned his nose up at that sorry excuse for Italian cuisine. I won’t soon let Jared forget that this disgraceful meal was his idea. 

After "lunch," we got lost in search of the park. Don't ask me how you miss a large grassy area but we did it. We eventually found an entrance to the park and several cool statues, monuments, and views. Specifically the Fonte Acqua Paola, a really pretty fountain, and the view overlooking the entire city right across from it deserves honorable mention. Next we made our way to the Piazza del Popolo but only after Jared led us back to the Ara Pacis museum and Mausoleo Augusto, claiming we hadn't seen them yet. I took over as tour guide from there. The Piazza was open and spacious and very pretty. Though nothing to be in awe of, I'm glad we went. 

We were pretty tired by then and again retreated back to our hotel (via the metro, bus, and our feet) to have dinner there for the last time.

Saturday, April 30th

Saturday was our last day in the city and also the only day of the week that the metro stayed open until 1am. We had made a plan the night before to see a few minor things on the map because we had time and then just walk around the city until nightfall. We stopped to have lunch at a little pizza place pretty early and while walking to our next sight we started discussing the Sistine Chapel. We realized that neither of us knew where it was nor had we checked on its location. After some searching on Jared's phone we were baffled to find out that it is in Vatican City – aka where we just were the previous day. We quickly scrapped the day’s plan as we knew we could not spend an entire week in Rome and not have gone to see the Sistine Chapel.

It is quite a hike to get to the museum containing the chapel in the first place and then once inside the museum, you have got to pass a lot of art before you get to the chapel. We finally made it there only to find that it's very dark inside the chapel and the ceiling is really high - props to you Michelangelo. I am proud to say that I have indeed seen the Creation of Man. I was able to snap a few pictures before overhearing a security guard tell someone that photographs are not allowed. My bad. 

Once outside we faced the dreaded rain but I had the little pink umbrella we bought the first day in the city to shield me. [Side Note: On our first visit to the Spanish Steps it had seemed like it was going to rain and it was such a pain for us to both cram under my little pink umbrella. I wanted a big umbrella but I already had 2 large ones in Lisbon and didn't want to pay a ton for a 3^rd. On Tuesday, when exiting the metro, I finagled a man down from 12€ to 5€. Then on Saturday I accidentally left the big umbrella on the bus. Major boo.] I did a little shopping near the Vatican but literally couldn't find anything worth my money. The best part was that we discovered a store with Jared's last name, Edy's Fashion, right next to a store named Missy. Is that you, God? Are you trying to tell me something?

We walked aimlessly around the city for a while stopping at some building that was unimpressive to say the least and getting lost in route for another monument before stumbling upon "our place" for dinner. After a last order of lasagna we waited for it to get dark because it was our first and only chance to be in the city at night. [Side Note: It doesn't get dark in Europe until very late. The sky is still light enough to see without street lamps until around 9:30pm.] We took a few pictures of the Colosseum and then took the metro to the Trevi Fountain where took a few more pictures before calling it a night. I am glad that the last place we visited in the city was my favorite and the Trevi is absolutely regal at night.

We engaged in a pretty deep conversation on the couch that night in the suite which I really appreciated and then we finished Gladiator in an attempt to stay up all night. My flight was at 9am at FCO (a train ride away) and Jared's flight was at CIA (a cab ride away). We had to get up around 5am to get ready so I could cab to the train station and catch a train at 7am to make it to the airport by 8ish. It was an ambitious plan but we had no choice but to execute it. Ready? Break!

Sunday, May 1st

4:30am rolls around pretty slowly when you're waiting for it. We showered and got ready and made it to the concierge to check out a little later than planned but we didn't expect the cab to take so long to get there. It took so long that we went to wait out front for it and good thing we did because two buses were actually blocking the entrance so when it did get there, it wouldn't have been able to drive around to the lobby where we were sitting. 25€ later (last encounter with those ridiculous cab rates) and we made it to the train station. At this point I was scrambling to get to the platform on time but the ticket machine was broken so I just ran by it and found the correct platform. We made it with a few minutes to spare so Jared stayed until the train arrived and then we said goodbye after a whirlwind 17 days together. 

The trains were both smooth rides and I made it to the airport with about an hour until take off. Little did I know everyone and their aunt's cousin's second child's godfather's brother-in-law was flying out of Rome on EasyJet at 9am. The line was ridiculously long and it didn't help that I was literally falling asleep in line. I would lean on my suitcase for support and I could feel my eye lids get so heavy and the next second I was stumbling awake because I almost fell over asleep. Terrible. After about 30 minutes of that, they finally called for Lisbon travelers because the flight was soon to leave so I got to skip the rest of the line, quickly check-in my bag, and run to the gate. I don't remember a single thing about that flight because I passed out the second I buckled that seat belt. Next thing I remember is waking up on the tarmac in Lisbon. 

It was an amazing adventure and the girl only fell more in love with the boy throughout the week. They loved Italy so much that they can't wait for their next chance to explore it together. They had a remarkable time in Rome and they lived happily... you know the rest.

"Boy you're an alien, your touch so foreign,
It's supernatural, extraterrestrial." -Katy Perry 

Just Missed the Train

Once upon a time, there was a girl who loved a boy, and they were blessed to spend an entire week in Rome, Italy together. Here is that story. Well, that story is actually fairly long so here is Part I.

Sunday, April 24th

One would think that for a flight that left at 11:40am on Easter Sunday, two juniors in college could make it to the airport on time. We made the flight but we did arrive at the airport a little later than planned; and the EasyJet check-in line was a little longer than expected; and my luggage weighed a little more than allowed; and all of this equated Jared and me being one of the last couples to board our plane to Rome. [Side Note: When those flight screens read "last call," they're not kidding.] We scoured that plane for two open seats together with a window view (because I must have the window) and we actually found a whole row that was open in the very back of the plane. However, all of the overhead space was full which meant we had to put our luggage under the seat in front of us. I assumed this would be no big deal and I absolutely assumed incorrectly. Jared threw a hissy fit about the lack of space due to our tardiness and slammed his bag down on the floor like a 4-year old denied a second piece of cake at a birthday party. While attempting to hide my giggles in the corner, the flight attendant, upon seeing Jared's mini-tantrum, came over to find out the problem and assure us that he would not let anyone sit in the aisle seat of our row so that Jared could put his bag in front of that empty seat and thus have ample leg room for the three-hour flight. The gentleman held true to his word which only confirmed that Jared's reaction was unnecessary. But at least I had a good laugh about it, and we definitely think it's funny now.

After hours of road trip games modified for an airplane, we landed in Rome, Italy and the series of events that resulted in my laughter were plentiful. First, my luggage was one of the absolute last pieces to make its way onto that dreaded conveyor belt. It took so long that we assumed we had already missed our train and we'd have to catch the next one. [Side Note: It is anything but funny when a woman fears that her luggage has been lost at the airport. If you are of the female specimen and you are reading this, you can attest to the pitter-patter and throbbing of your own heartbeat resounding in your eardrums with every second that you wait while no other bags descend onto that belt, and the perspiration that clams up your hands with every person that leaves baggage claim as you stand glued to your spot, and the thousands of numbers that start scrambling in your brain as you calculate the cost of having to immediately replace everything in that suitcase, and the flood relief that comes over you when that plum colored treasure chest comes sliding out of that black hole and into your giddy little hands.] So of course at this point we were not rushing to the station for a train we believed had already left; we just strolled over there. But when we arrived to the platform, our train was literally sitting on the tracks and just as we figured this out and walked toward it, it pulled away from the station! Boo. But of course I laughed.

We had nothing else to do but hang around the station and grab a quick bite to eat after we exchanged our tickets for the next train. Once aboard it was a quick 40 minute ride to the next station where we had to switch trains for our final destination. I will admit that I am pretty good with directions and timetables and schedules and all that jazz, but this station was kind of hectic and seemingly unorganized and it was like a massive train wreck (haha) in that train station with everyone scattered around, jumping from platform to platform attempting to figure out when their train would arrive. It was an unpleasant yet comical experience that I couldn't accurately describe if I wanted to. You had to be there. But eventually we figured out the train we needed only to see it was not at a close platform and then to see it pull away without us aboard, again. So what I did do? Laughed, you guessed it; but Jared was about to have a conniption because he hates being late and missing things and is one of the most punctual people I've ever met. [Side Note: Jared called me on our second date at 6:30pm to tell me he would be late for his 7pm pick up. Little did I know "late" meant he was going to arrive at 7:04pm instead of 7:00. How did he know half an hour early that he was going to be 4 minutes late? And that's not late?! I'm a girl for Pete's sake. I get at least a 15 minute grace period so of course I wasn't ready even though he was "late." Go figure.]

Before the sun set we made it to our final station where the only thing left to do was take a 5-minute cab ride to our hotel and this was our first experience with the astronomical cab fees in Rome. This cab ride was somewhere between 5-8 minutes long and it literally cost us 20€. Unreal. But we finally made it to our hotel which I thought was really cute and was randomly situated behind an IKEA. Jared immediately fell in love with the Italian accent of the concierge and proceeded to practice his "Italian" all the way up the elevator and to the room. 

Not long after settling in and discovering that ESPN America was just about the only channel we could successfully access on our HDTV, my baby was hungry. Surprise! So we ventured downstairs to ask for directions to a good restaurant and we were informed of a place just around the corner. We were given directions but our first attempt at getting there was thwarted as we ended up in a barricaded parking lot. Take two was much more effective as we had a hand drawn map to follow and we found the place. Back in the room, everything went smoothly until we tried to charge our electronics. Low and behold our converters did not fit in these outlets. Boo. So we called the front desk which was able to spot us just one converter that worked but we needed more than one so an employee actually offered us his personal converter. It didn't end up working but that was extremely nice of him to give us his own. [Side Note: I initially thought it was really cool that the TV had a sensor next to the bed so you could just point the remote at this spot on the wall to change the channel instead of having to lift up and point it at the TV in just the right spot. However we realized that the sensor blinks with lightning bright precision all night and we ended up having to cover it with a pillow to block the flash. That's some UCLA-type engineering to overlook that major flaw in functionality.]

Monday, April 25th

If you've read even one of the tales of my adventures with Jared, you know what happened the next day - we woke up late. We missed our free continental breakfast and were therefore forced to grab McDonald's which happened to be next door to the hotel. We were determined not to let the entire day go to waste though we had 6 full ones in the city (yay!) but due to the exponential rates of hotels in Rome, our hotel was just outside the city center in Ciampino. Therefore it took some navigational skills to get us to the city. After talking to the concierge, we figured out that we needed to catch the bus going to Anagnina and then catch the metro from there to the city. The bus stop was just across the street and the ride was only about 10 minutes. Then we took the metro for about 25 minutes and 1€ each and actually made it to Rome. How 'bout that?

We exited at the Repubblica station and walked around the city with no particular destination; just enjoying the Italian air. I didn't want to always be looking at maps so we just turned down random streets when we felt like it and went to see obscure buildings though we had no idea what they were and passed by some really fabulous shopping and just soaked it all in. We eventually made it to the Monument to Vittorio Emanuele II and as we crossed the street toward it, I looked to my left and there it was - the Colosseum; just as majestic as we'd heard it was. We were both extremely excited about our first sighting of the structure that inspired the home field of our beloved Trojan football team and we made sure to see it every day we were in Rome.

After the Monument it began to drizzle. This was not okay with me by any means and I forced Jared to go with me to get an umbrella or else we would have to go back. Seriously. We then stopped to have lunch at a little bistro of which I'm not sure the name but we returned several times to this bistro because Jared fell in love with the gelato - specifically Stracciatella. It's some kind of vanilla based cream with chocolate shavings so of course I didn't have any. I tried a fruitier gelato which I enjoyed but it wasn't much different than ice cream to me. Actually, it was a little too sweet for my taste buds. To each his own. [Side Note: While having lunch at the bistro, I looked up just in time to see the end of an Alexis Jordan music video (for a song I'd never heard) and there was a familiar face - Mr. Tommy Williamson. I should have expected it from that kid but it was still really cool to see a fellow Trojan on TV all the way in Italy.]

After lunch the rain just would not let up and we were coerced to head back to the hotel. We walked back and forth for a while in the rain unsure of the nearest metro only to find out it was literally around the corner but we made it there before 9 (metros close at 9 Sunday-Friday due to construction of a new line) and then were able to take the hotel's free shuttle from the metro stop. The rest of the night was rather calm until we attempted to get pizza. It was raining so we didn't feel like going out to that restaurant again but we found out that we could have it delivered and that suited us just fine - until we realized we didn't have enough cash. Of course the ATM near the hotel was closed and we had no way of getting more cash. So after I finished dying laughing at our inability to come up with 15€ between the two of us, we managed to pull together 13€ and the hotel covered the other two and just charged it to our room. Great customer service. We were fed, fat, and happy and then we passed out - after Sporcling of course.

Tuesday, April 26th

When booking our hotel in Rome, we couldn't find a reasonably priced hotel available for all 7 nights so we booked 2 nights at one and 5 nights at another. So come Tuesday morning it was time to move hotels. This was our second encounter with the ridiculous cab fees in Italy as it cost us about 30€ to get to the next hotel which was about 13 minutes away. Insanity. But upon our arrival we were upgraded to a pretty sweet suite (pun intended) and I was actually able to unpack my suitcase - we love unpacking in hotels. The new place was a bit further away and slightly more of a hassle to travel to and from but we were determined to make it work. Our journey now included a 10 minute walk down a particularly narrow sidewalk (and past some vicious miniature alarm dogs), a scurry across a busy street once we passed the median, a 20-45 minute wait at a bus stop, a 15 minute bus ride to the metro, and then a 25 minute metro ride to the city. It took us over an hour to get to and from the city each day but we're great travel partners so I didn't mind.

When we made it to the city we stopped to have lunch at a surprisingly busy restaurant (some kind of school field trip was dining there) and I had a pesto something-something dish which came with mini octopuses. Foul. They were actually not that mini in my opinion. Vile. Then we took the metro to the Spanish Steps which I absolutely loved. After taking a picture with the old Trojan to whom Jared refused to give 5€ and running into Jared's friend Mariela, we gathered for our free walking tour. [Side Note: Meeting this girl caused Jared to introduce me as his girlfriend for one of the first times in our relationship. I liked it.] The free walking tour at 2:00pm wasn't as good as the one we did in Madrid but I appreciated the guy's efforts and he was really nice. Along the tour we stopped at the Trevi Fountain (my absolute favorite place in Rome), the Pantheon, and Piazza Navona where we saw some amazing street acrobats, a pretty standard Cathedral, and got gelato from an employee who was less than enthused about our touristy nature.

Next we walked along the river which was really beautiful and quite peaceful as it was almost entirely void of tourists. We passed the Castel Sant’ Angelo (an old not-so-impressive castle), a random arch, and a ton of bridges. [Side Note: An arch is a curved structure. An arc is the curved shape. So an arch is a structure or physical object and an "arc" describes the shape of the space underneath an arch. We couldn't figure out whether the structures we saw were arcs or arches. Now we know.] 

As we passed by the lower side of the Colosseum on our way to the metro, we walked by two men; one with a microphone and one with a camera. They seemed to be making some kind of an amateur documentary and were looking for tourists who spoke English to interview. This intrigued me so I stopped to answer their questions. The interview seemed completely non sequitur but I tried to just smile and be pleasant through the jumble of randomness. He asked if this was our first trip to Rome and if we liked it and what our favorite place was but then he unexpectedly threw in, "How do you feel about God?" The question totally caught me off guard and as a Christian it totally surprised me that I didn't know how to answer it. Did he mean do I think God exists? Was he asking me to explain the gospel? Should I start quoting scripture? I was at a complete loss for words and couldn't gather my thoughts at all so I said...

TO BE CONTINUED ;) 

[the next post will finish the story]

"It's cool baby, doesn't matter anyway,

Well I'm so sorry we got to the station a little too late,

Such a shame; just missed the train." -Kelly Clarkson