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To take advantage of our second spring break, a week off of class for La Feria de Abril, my friends and I made plans to go to Italy. It was amazing, of course, but also one of the most difficult weeks of our lives! We were just hit with so many unexpected challenges, making the trip not exactly less enjoyable, but just...challenging.
I went to Italy with my 6 "best Spain friends." I'll introduce them briefly.
Leshia: Is a K-State student! She and I met in Leadership Class our very first semester. We were acquaintances, but not really friends. We didn't plan to come to Sevilla together, it just so happened we chose the same city, but different programs. Through Leshia I got to know the people in her program and now we're all best friends.
Megan: Leshia's best friend, a mass comm major at K-State. She is from Iowa, but has family ties to K-State and Kansas. I actually didn't meet Megan until we got to Spain. It also turns out I'm friends with her boyfriend, Kyle, who is studying in Mexico this semester.
Marie: From Iowa, a music major who is going to tech school
after her bachelors to learn how to repair instruments. She's pretty darn cool and crazy adventurous. She plays percussion and is always banging on things. She is in my Spanish Lit and Semantics classes.
Matt: A junior at the University of Maryland, majoring in English and Spanish. Matt is in my Spanish Lit and Cervantes classes, he is obsessed with cars, books and keeps us entertained with his jokes and though-provoking questions.
Lauren: Megan and Leshia's roommate here in Spain. She is a Home-Ec major at Colorado State University, her best friend goes to K-State and her best friend's ex-boyfriend is a good friend of mine from Abilene! It's crazy how small the world is. Anyway, Lauren rocks, and I've decided I'm never traveling anywhere ever again without a home-ec major. She never ceases to have anything we need...bandaids, snacks, plastic baggies, water, the answers to life's persistent questions....
Dan: Ah Dan...a Finance major at KU, but we love him anyway. He is from Omaha Nebraska and is my Catholic buddy. He knows mass times for nearly every church in Sevilla, and finds cool things like Order of the Mass books and chapels with perpetual adoration. Lauren
Friends, big statue
Our group in a courtyard of the Vatican Museums. and Dan both attend classes at UPO, the other University here in Sevilla.
Anyway, all of these kids are here in Spain with CEA, Cultural Experiences Abroad, and they all got to know one another through CEA, and I knew Leshia from K-State, have Marie and Matt in class, and we all have become good friends. I don't think any of them really have time to read this, but if they do, you are all amazing and I'm so thankful to have been able to share this semester with you!
So yes, we all went to Italy, but were never actually together at the same time. Ever. Hence the difficulty of the trip.
Matt, Leshia, Megan and Lauren were on the same flights and had to leave Seville at 7:25 Wednesday morning. Dan was on a different flight, but had to leave about the same time. The Sevilla airport is about 15 minutes outside of town and a taxi ride is upwards of 25-30 Euro. Luckily there is a bus, but it stops running at 11:30 and doesn't begin again until 6:15 a.m. Dan, Matt, Leshia, Lauren and Megan had planned to take a taxi and just
Mail Time
Sending a postcard from Vatican City. They have thier own Postal System. I want to mail my wedding invitations from the Vatican, how cool would that be? split the fare between them, when the taxis in Sevilla went on strike. So to make sure they made their early flight, they took the last bus on Tuesday night and slept at the airport. Unfortunately (unbeknownst to all of us) the Sevilla airport closes each night, so they had to sleep outside. Not fun.
My flight left at 8:20 so I was able to take the first bus and be on time. I flew through Barcelona, then to Rome, arriving around 2:30. Dan flew through Madrid, arriving in Rome about the same time I did, so we planned to meet at the airport. Keep in mind that none of our cell phones work in other countries. It was such a long shot meeting Dan in the giant Rome airport, but we did, and he got us to the train to actually get into town, because the Rome airport is nearly half an hour out of town...an 80-100 Euro taxi ride. Yikes! Dan and I split up when we got into town, because he was staying in a different hostel than the rest of us due to late booking. Wednesday afternoon was the last time any of us saw
Dan for two days. I had directions to get to our hostel, where I had planned to meet up with the rest of the gang, plus Marie, who had been traveling around Italy for a week before we all got there. The directions I had were good, for someone who understands public transportation, but somehow I managed to get on the right bus, on the first try and sat right behind the bus driver who not only told me where to get off, but pointed toward the street of our hostel and then directed me to the nearest pedestrian crosswalk. We had all planned to meet at the hostel at 4:00 p.m. because we had planned to meet Dan at the Colosseum at 5. Dan and I didn't get to Rome until 4:00, which put me at our hostel at about 4:40, and I walked up the stairs just as my friends were walking down to leave, amazing timing. I got checked in, and we left for the Colosseum, getting there at about 5:25 and couldn't find Dan. After searching until nearly 6, Marie and I went into the Colosseum because we had to leave Rome a day earlier than
A faun!
Just like in Chronicles of Narnia. Ok really, it's weird how many things this semester have reminded me of those books/that movie. Anyway, yup, here is a statue of Tumnus in the Vatican Museums. For those of you who haven't read those books (and if you haven't, stop reading this right now and get to it!) A faun is a half man - half goat. the others, while the rest of the group sat outside playing cards and looking for Dan.
The Colosseum was really interesting and so old. Marie and I got some great pictures at the sun was setting, and had our friends down below take a picture of us from the second story. We met some ladies from Boston in the elevator and they were thrilled to hear people speaking English. Lol. I remember feeling like that. We left the Colosseum around 7:30, giving up on Dan and went straight for Italian pasta! I have to admit the only thing I was looking forward to more than Italian food was Vatican City. We found a great little place that was listed in Leshia's guidebook and got 6 different dished of pasta, then passed them around the table so we could all try each other's. Like musical chairs, except much less work! Hehe. Leshia's penne pasta with a red vodka sauce was the unanimous favorite. After dinner we went back to our hostel, as we planned to get up early to go to the Vatican Museums. On the way home, we stopped for gelato and even the sugar rush didn't stop us
Artificial lighting
You aren't allowed to take photos or video inside the Sistine Chapel (although everyone does), but I did take a picture of one of the outside windows. They use specially filtered artifical lighting in the windows so the art isn't damaged. Also, we were there on a rainy dark day, and wouldn't have been able to see well at all with natural lighting. from crashing into bed.
Thursday morning we got to the museums just after 7:00 a.m. and were about 20th in line. The museums don't open until 8:45 but we wanted to be in the front of the line so we could run to the Sistine Chapel and look at it before it was crowded with tourists. Unfortunately, there is a separate entrance for groups, and they let groups go in immediately, which was disappointing. While we waited in line, we sent Matt and Megan on a quest for breakfast, they came back with yummy pastries, juice and coffee to share. It began to rain while we waited so we whipped out our umbrellas. There was a girl in line behind us apparently traveling by herself, and we offered her one of our umbrellas, since we had 5 between the 6 of us. It turns out she is from Australia, and traveling during a year off from college. Her name was Aisha (A-sha) and she stuck with us all day! When we finally got into the museums, we walked very quickly, border-line running, past thousands of paintings, tapestries and sculptures to get to the Sistine Chapel. It was busy, but
Break time
Art is tiring! We're good at sharing...four people on a bench and shared backs! :) not crowded yet and we spent half an hour marveling at the masterpiece of Michelangelo before doubling back and looking at everything we passed the first time. Before leaving, we spent another 20 minutes or so in the Sistine Chapel. I thought it was appropriate to begin and end our tour there. I cannot think of a more inspirational place to elect a new Pope for the Catholic Church. I wish I could see it set up as it is when elections take place. The Vatican Museums were our backup meeting point with Dan, just in case we missed him at the Colosseum, but we never saw him there either, despite many trips back and forth along the line in the morning and keeping half an eye out for him all day. So we gave up and Aisha led us to a pizza restaurant for lunch, which was quite a hike from the Vatican, but worth it! On the way we stopped in St. Peter's Square for photos and to randomly yell Dan's name. The pizza was delicious, thin crusted with fresh, natural ingredients. Yum! After the pizza we indulged in Lemonchello, I have no idea if that is spelled
Pizza
There was absolute silence as we devoured these. right, but it's this liquor that is famous in Italy, and um, extremely strong. It's bright yellow, almost neon, and smells a lot better than it tastes. I suppose if you're in Italy you should try it, but once is enough for me. On the way down it burns like a lemon drop on fire!
After lunch we went to the Trevi fountain, with really cool sculptures of Neptune and stuff. It was crowded with tourists, but we found a spot to throw coins in. One coin will ensure a quick return to Rome, and two - you'll fall in love there. None of us really wanted to fall in love with anyone we couldn't communicate with, so one it was! The pictures turned out really well. After the fountain we went to the Spanish steps, and chilled there for awhile, taking pictures, and watching the clouds come back over the city. We really enjoyed sitting down and spending time at the monuments, and also got a kick out of putting "In Rome!" at the end of every sentence. We left the steps as the rain began and escaped safely into the metro. Here we split with Aisha, arranging
Trevi Fountain
One to return to Rome, two to fall in love there. to meet back at St. Peter's Square at 8:00 p.m. to go out that night. We returned to our hostel to discover that the Polish girls from the night before had been replaced with a guy about our age from Kentucky! His name is Eric, a classics major who had been studying in England and was traveling before heading back to the States just in time for the Kentucky Derby. We talked to him, ate PB and J sandwiches for dinner and saw Marie off, as she had to catch a train to Milan to catch her flight on Friday morning. We lounged around in the hostel for a while, cat-naping and listening to the rain. We also used the hostel computer to email Dan, hoping he might check it sometime. We arranged to meet him the next morning for Mass at the Vatican. We woke up just before 8, and with Eric in tow, hurried to make the 20 minute trek to the Vatican. We made it there at 8:20, and aren't sure if Aisha stood us up, or we stood her up, but we never saw her again. Lesson learned: get contact info before parting ways in a
One to return!
In the photo from L-R is Lauren, Megan, Aisha (our Australian friend), and me. foreign country! We stayed at St. Peter's Square to watch the sun set, then took ourselves on a walking night tour of Rome. Eric, it turns out, has been studying Latin for years, and he was able to translate everything for us! That was amazing. I want to speak Latin. ......And French, Arabic, German, Russian, Japanese, Chinese, etc. We walked straight out of St. Peter's and down the street to the river, then to the courthouse, then the Pantheon. Eric was craving gelato, and it wasn't hard to convince us, so we indulged before walking back to our hostel. We were just settling in for the night, when Marie came bursting through the door, very upset after missing her train to Milan and therefore missing her Plane from Milan back to Spain. She had already been in contact with her parents to get things figured out and she wound up spending another night with us.
Friday morning we got up early again and got the Vatican in time for 7:30 mass. Even though Dan and I are the only Catholics, the other kids have been really great about going to mass with us. We all went to the Cathedral
in Sevilla for Easter Sunday mass, and it's so nice to have company. I have really appreciated their open-mindedness attitudes for my religion! Megan and Matt slept in, but Leshia, Lauren, Marie and I went. We arrived to discover mass is actually at 8, which left us time to explore St. Peter's Basilica, gaze in awe at La Pieta, and marvel at the various groups of nuns, monks, priests, cardinals, alter boys, etc, milling around. If you go to Rome, go to everything early. It was nice to be almost alone in the Basilica, and to get through security in no time. Marie couldn't stay for mass, as she was still figuring out how she was going to get back to Spain, and on her way out of the Basilica, she passed Dan. We heard mass in one of the chapels on the sides of the Basilica, it was small, but full, and a priest said mass. It was half in Italian half in Latin. The priest took the host, dipped it into the wine, and then placed it in our mouths. It was the first time I've had wine since coming to Europe, and the first time in my
life the wine has been white! I thought the point was to at least resemble blood....interesting. Anyway, after mass we hugged Dan and then began the 20 questions. It turns out we had missed one another by mere minutes every time. Luckily Dan has friends in Rome, from KU, and some from various religious orders and he had been having a ball without us. We left the Basilica to go into St. Peter's square to meet up with Matt and Megan, and then we all went together to the Cupola, or the dome, of the Basilica for great views of Rome and Vatican City. Dan left us after that to meet his friend and we went down underneath the Basilica to see the tomb of various Popes and Saints, including Pope John Paul II, and St. Peter himself. At Pope John Paul II's tomb, people were stopped in prayer and tears, very moving. His tomb is new, obviously, and very simple done in white marble. St. Peter's remains are in a box underneath the main alter of the Basilica. It's breathtaking to think of how old they are. It's also so appropriate that the basilica was built, literally, on the
La Pieta
Michelangelo's only signed work. It's behind glass because a crazy person smashed part of Mary in the 1970's. "Rock of the Church" being Peter himself.
We left the Vatican after stopping in the gift shop and found another Pizza place for lunch. From there we stopped at a pastry shop, then headed back to our hostel to pick up my bags and meet Marie again. Marie had gotten a flight out of Rome for 6ish that evening and my flight was at 8:30. Public transportation in Rome had gone on strike from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Friday, a huge problem since Rome is HUGE, so we took taxis to the Italian Tomb (Monument) of the unknown soldier, while Marie went on to take the train to the airport. From the tomb of the unknown soldier, which, by the way, puts ours to shame, we met Dan and his friend Kristin at the Colosseum. I sat and chatted with Kristin while all the others toured the Colosseum. Kristin has been studying in Rome since last fall and she attends classes with lots of Seminarians. It was fascinating to hear about her experience. She cannot count the number of times she has seen the Pope and through the seminarians, has even attended concerts and banquets with him!
Kristin is from KU, so we had the Kansas Konnection as well.
I left while the group was still in the Colosseum because with the luck we'd been having, I wanted to be sure not to miss my plane. I hopped on the Metro at the Colosseum to go to the train station, then took the train to the Airport to find my flight would be an hour and a half delayed. What can you do? I hung out in the Rome Airport and tried to sleep. We boarded at 9:30 and I slept most of the way to Barcelona.
We didn't get to see Pope Benedict, I believe he was actually out of town when we were there, but I wasn't too disappointed. I had really really wanted to see Pope John Paul II, which I did, kind of, I just wish he were still alive. It was so crazy being at the Vatican almost exactly a year after his death. St. Peter's Square looked so familiar from seeing it on T.V. during PJPII's death and the election of PB. I also saw lights on in the Papel apartments, and got to see the grounds of the
Swiss gaurds
I think they look cute! Vatican from the Cupola. I asked Kristin if they every let people actually into Vatican City to roam around the grounds and gardens (The Vatican Museums and St. Peter's Basilica are both on the exterior of VC, and have separate entrances from the street. All streets leading into VC are guarded by those crazy swiss guys in the funny outfits). Anyway Kristin said it's pretty hard, but that she and friends have tried, sometimes with success. I'd like to know what all the buildings in VC are used for, Dan and I assumed most of them are offices that organize the running of the Catholic church! Next time I go to Rome, I'm going to try to get a priest or bishop hookup who can show me more things.
Oh! On Friday morning I ate a blood orange and could hardly believe it's really red! Crazy! I think I've heard of them before, but man, I didn't know the "blood" part was literal! Anyway it was delicious, and made me think about how much I'm going to miss all of the amazing fresh fruit. Seriously. I eat so much fruit here (namely because the Spaniards can't screw up a
St. Peter's Square from the top of the Basilica
This is where everyone gathered when Pope John Paul II passed away. It's quite a lot smaller than I expected, and doesn't take many people to fill it. piece of fruit! haha).
Italy was the first time I'd been alone in a country where I really didn't speak the language. In Morocco, I was with a group, and many people spoke Spanish. In Portugal, I was with a group, and almost everyone speaks English. My spanish background came in handy in Italy, but not many people actually spoke Spanish to us, we just managed to communicate. I'm also amazed at how much Latin I can read and understand from church and singing songs in Latin in choir. Spanish also helps, as it is a Romance language. Anyway people, if you do nothing else, pick up another language. Whatever it is, you'll exponentially increase the number of people you can communicate with and that is a beautiful thing.
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Grandma
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Oh Jamie!!!
My child, I wonder if you realize all the things you have done, all the places you have seen, and all the experiences you've had these last 4 months. You have taken the utmost opportunity to expand your education by experiences of a lifetime. I'm proud you, and I'm happy were able (and brave enough) to take advantage of the situation even when you had to go it alone. Please don't miss your flight home...we are anxious...to see you... soon.