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Published: February 17th 2013
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Sorry for missing last week for the blog! It has been so crazy this past week and I didn't find the time to write another blog, so this one might be longer because of my fail haha.
So last weekend was Carnivale which was SO much fun! A group of friends and I ventured to Rome, we stayed in an apartment because between the six of us it was cheaper and more convenient to do so. I didn't take pictures of the apartment but it was very nice, there were three bedrooms, one bathroom, a kitchen, and a living room; it was a bit small but rather perfect for the occasion. The people I was traveling with were very fun, despite a little bit of complaining from a few, but on what vacation do you not get some complaints? So the first night in Rome we just walked around near our apartment and got gelato and pasta and saw the Colosseum and Trevi Fountain. The second day was the Vatican, coincidentally the Pope resigned that day, and then we went out to the bars in the evening after dinner, we found the best restaurant that night it was a great
environment and had fun waitors and good food! The Italians were very rude though, they called us American dogs which was insulting but oh well. Third day we had gorgeous weather and we walked around the Colosseum and the hill next to it, such good weather and views! That evening we explored and found Carnivale activities, saw some break dancing street performers, and sipped on some hot wine punch stuff (I have no idea what it was called, but it was nice on a cold evening) then went back to the apartment and played some cards. By the way, thank you Mom for having me pack cards, it was the best idea ever!
The fourth day was a pretty heavy day; first off it was a dreary day and all of the sights we saw were about death in some way. The first place we went, I don't remember the name of it, was a war memorial of when over 300 Italians were murdered by Germans. When the Germans invaded Italy they were holding prisoners in caves around Rome, some of the Italians rose up to try and get away, failed, but killed about 30 German soldiers. To make
an example, the Germans demanded ten Italians for every German killed; to kill them they were to blow up a cave but due to intoxication the cave was not blown up correctly and the Italians were basically trapped inside, injured, and had to die a slow death. Just walking through this memorial was so...I don't even know how to describe it. There was a tomb room where the names and pictures of all the Italians were on stone caskets, you were able to walk through and look at each almost like a graveyard. The thing that got to me the most was that one of the pictures looked almost exactly like my dad, that connection was what made that experience so real: those were real people with families who loved them. It was tough. After that we went to the Catacombs which involved more death which was also hard, not quite as hard as the war memorial but still very somber. Since it was a Sunday we didn't go out, we just hung out in the apartment and we had to get up early to catch a flight. We flew to Barcelona and had eleven hours to hang out in
the airport then got back to Bilbao around ten at night.
School this past week was tough even though it was a three day week. The lack of sleep from traveling had finally caught up with me by Friday and I was SO ready to just relax and hang out! We were blessed with some sun this weekend which was so nice! Friday we had an excursion to an overlook of Bilbao and then a few of us USAC kids went to Casco Viejo to walk around and shop. This weekend Carnivale was still being celebrated in some parts of Getxo/Bilbao so we went out for that, let me tell you Spaniards go ALL OUT with costumes! The best costume that I saw was a group of Asian tourists, they played the part SO well! They had fake cameras and were freaming out about everything! Haha I wish I had gotten a picture of it, priceless. Today, three of my friends went to a buffet and then went across the bridge in Bilbao called "Puente de Vizcaya". The view from the top is pretty awesome but it was a little bit chilly. Now, I am taking a break from homework! Haha. I have a final and a midterm this week though so I should probably get back to it.
Hasta Luego!
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