Chill Bumps...

And so begins my first wonderful adventure outside of Barcelona... A weekend trip to Rome. I had no idea what to expect; to be honest, the only things I knew about Rome were that I had seen a lot of pictures of the Colosseum and Pantheon in my text books, that the Romans were once upon a time extremely powerful, and the Italy had lots of pizza and ice cream. As soon as I could see the ground from my airplane window, however, I knew that this place was once again going to be a place unlike anything I'd ever seen. Though I saw extremely beautiful things upon arriving in Rome, my first stop was something that I had only seen in my nightmares, our hostel: "Hotel Beautiful."


After a few deep breaths, I finally recovered from the utter shock of where I would be sleeping the next few nights, and decided that I should spend as little time within that place as possible, therefore we went out to explore Rome. Beginning with the Colosseum, I saw all of those incredible sites that I had learned about from texts books throughout school, however, I never imagined I would ever stand right next to. Each time I reached a new one of these unbelievable sites, I would stare in awe, touch them if I could, and do everything that I could to take it all in; it all just felt like a dream.


It wasn't just the beauty of these places that amazed me, but also the stories that lay within every inch of land. Don't get me wrong, there is nowhere I would rather live than my home in Nashville, however, I also cannot imagine walking to school each day, and passing the ancient Roman ruins that are taught worldwide. The hard work, dedication, skill, art that these people created within Rome is beyond anything that you could ever find in the US. I feel so lucky to have gotten to experience this first hand.

So Friday night, after a nice dinner at Dolce Vita (I made the girls go there because I told them it was my favorite brand of shoes at home, so it had to be good! -- sad but true) we went to some local bar... After hanging out there for awhile, we decided that it was too touristy, and that we wanted something more local, so we went to a different one -- recommended by the owner of our hostel. All was well and good for about an hour or so... After a while, however, I decided that I was going to try to make this one boys night and dance with him (he was in a wheel chair). So I took his hand, wheeled him out on the dance floor and we were having a great time. He spun me, and it didn't work too well... so without thinking I tried to spin him... the next thing I know he has flipped over backwards and fallen out of his wheel chair and onto his back. As if this wasn't bad enough, as a result of the complete and utter shock that I was experiencing, I turned, ran, and hid in a corner afraid to ever show my face again. I watched as his friends ran to his side and got him back in his chair, and felt my face turn purple, and my heart break. After running to his side, apologizing a thousand times, and giving him a kiss on the cheek, we decided it would be best for us to leave and just go back to the hostel...


So Saturday, to make up for the awful way my night ended on Friday, we began the day with St. Peter's Basilica... it was the absolute most beautiful thing I have ever seen. There wasn't an inch of the entire place that didn't take my breath away, and though I wanted to take a picture of every single bit, I didn't feel that pictures could even begin to portray the beauty that I was witnessing. From the statues of Jesus and Mary, to golden trimming around the entire Church, every single bit was created with care, with dedication, with thought, and with purpose.


I am not sure that such thoughts were necessary, or even appropriate, but as I was walking through this sacred space I couldn't help but think, "where did we go wrong?" At what point did humanity stop celebrating and appreciating not only the beauty that can be seen here, but also the faith. I can only imagine the blood, sweat and tears that went into perfecting each and every detail of each and every bit, from choosing the right color to paint the trim, to making sure that each and every wrinkle of my favorite statues face was placed perfectly, in order to evoke an exact, and intense emotion. This look of peace on this man's face most definitely created a stirring inside of me that I cannot even begin to put into words.

As the day continued, our adventure continued. We went to a wonderful little cafe for lunch, followed by a tour in which we got to see the Spanish steps, the pantheon, several more Basilicas, the beautiful back streets of Rome, and more... While wandering after the tour, I managed to buy not only a beautiful little water color from an artist on the street, but also a vintage ring that will remind me of my adventures in Rome. :) And on our way back to the hostel, I found my favorite building... I am not sure what it is about it, but I would give anything to be able to take this back home with me...
 To finish our night in Rome... we met up with a large group of other college travelers from all over the world, and we to a couple of local bars and clubs. Not only did we get a taste of how friendly and attractive Italian men can be, but also how creepy and inappropriate they can be... Overall, however, the night out was lots of fun, and friends were made from Rome, the US, England, and my favorite, a very nice boy from South Africa...

How thankful I am to have not only the opportunity to study abroad in Barcelona, but also the freedom to travel throughout Europe on the weekends, and the generous father who makes that possible. Just booked my plane tickets to Paris in a few weeks. YAY

Love and miss you all more than you know...