Let's start at the beginning, shall we? After all, it's a very good place to start.
Day 1: This was Wednesday, April 10, 2011. I was all packed up, ready to go. I had to be at the train station d'Angleur in Liège around 12 00pm, so we put all my stuff in the car (one suitcase, one bag for the bus, and my laptop bag) and my host dad drove me to the station. I was actually the first one there, and we waited around for a little bit, though it wasn't long until people started arriving in a steady stream. I said goodbye to my host dad and hello to the exchange students who I hadn't seen in a long time. Oakley was there and we stuck together for most of the trip.
When the bus arrived, there were already some people on it, as the first stop had been in Brussels. We loaded up our stuff and hopped on the big two-story bus. Jordann was already there and she had saved us seats. We were on the top floor with a bunch of other exchange students that I had never met before, but we quickly got acquainted and everything was great. we started off on our journey, and I wasn't feeling to good, but it was on and off stomachy stuff, which I'm sure was just stress, and I did not get sick, so it was all good. After just a couple hours, we stopped again to pick up the last of the kids in Luxembourg. We had a bit of time to chill and I talked with some of the people that I didn't know. Once we got back on the bus, everyone knew each other and we were blasting music and having a great time. We spent the rest of the trip making hippie daisy crowns, listening to music, playing guitar, singing, and watching movies. We spent the night on the bus too, with a couple more stops, one being Switzerland where I found the biggest Toblerone ever. And let me tell you, sleeping on that bus sucked. I've slept on other buses for big trips like that before, but this was awful.
Day 2: The next morning we had to wake up really early, on top of everything. But it was ok because we were in Italy!! We stopped and everyone changed and made themselves presentable. Next stop, Roma!!!
We stopped in a parking garage in Rome and everyone got off the bus and split into four groups: two English speaking groups and two French speaking groups. I was in the higher of the two French groups (it was the Rotary that chose the groups and it was marked on our nametag/lanyards). From there, we made our way into the city towards the Vatican. On the road that we took, there was a sort of exhibition of the Stations of the Cross in giant wooden sculptures. They were beautiful and for me, very moving since they were incredibly emotional and realistic. And they were just chillin' in a line on the side of the road on podiums. Normal. From there, we continued until we saw the castle of Saint Angelo and the Angel Bridge that is right in front of it. We took our pictures and the Rotary guys in charge of our groups told us a little bit of history that had to do with the monuments. On the bridge, there are statues of angels lining it. Fun fact #1: Each angel is holding something that had to do with the crucifixion of Jesus. Also on the bridge, people put locks around the wrought-iron bars with their name and the name of their significant other written on them. I love that :)
We then made our way to the Piazzo San Pietro (Saint Peter's Square) to meet up with everyone else, take a few pictures, and then follow the leader to the restaurant where we would eat lunch.
Ok here we go, food time. Jordann and I walked into the restaurant and realized that there really weren't any places left, so we ended up sitting at the table with the Rotary adults. Which wasn't a big deal since we had the opportunity to talk to them and, yes, suck up a little bit. And then they ordered a bottle of wine. Italian wine. And Jordann and I got to have a glass too. So let's just say, sitting at the adults' table = major win. For lunch, we had a wonderful full Italian meal, starting off with the first course of pasta. Little penne pastas in a delicious cream sauce with peas. The only problem was that I was still kind of not feeling 100%. I ate anyway and really enjoyed it, but it would have been even better if my tummy had been agreeing with me. Anyways, for the main course (no, the pasta was not the main course), we had a breaded chicken with salad and potatoes. Yum. And for dessert, a sort of puff pastry cake filled with a vanilla cream and then a lighter cream on top with a little chocolate drizzled over it. Seriously, awesome first meal in Italy.
After our lunch, we made our way back into Rome and towards the Vatican. We spent the rest of the afternoon in a guided tour of the Vatican, including the Basilica and the Sistine Chapel. Our guide was an Italian who spoke French, and though he spoke really well, his accent was thick and sometimes it was a little difficult to understand him. The way it worked was each of us had a little radio type device with headphones and the guide had the microphone. So we could hear everything he said, though we didn't have to be right next to him. It was a good system. But it was starting to get really hot and even though the Vatican is gorgeous, it gets to be a lot after a while. We went through different rooms that were covered in murals and paintings and they were just beautiful. But of course, I was looking forward to the Sistine Chapel. Towards the end of the visit, I found myself standing inside a giant room with ridiculously high ceilings and paintings covering the ceiling and the walls. It wasn't until I saw the famous painting of God reaching out to Adam that I realized where I was. We spent a good twenty minutes in the Sistine Chapel, trying to take it all in. But it was difficult, considering it was packed with wall-to-wall people and there is just so much to see. It really is incredible, although it was much different than I expected it to be. I expected it to be smaller, and the paintings to be less separated and more of a giant mural. But it was beautiful nonetheless and I was by no means disappointed.
After the Sistine Chapel, we continued our tour, passing through the maze of tombs of the past popes (I stopped to give a little prayer at the grave of Pope John Paul II), seeing more of the outside grounds, and finally ending up in the big Basilica. Again, it's just so much at once to take in, it's difficult to truly experience it all. But it really was gorgeous and my breath was taken away by everything that was going on around me. We also saw the Swiss guards who are dressed in loud orange and blue costumes. They were cool. We ended our tour just in front of it all and Rotary set us free for a couple hours of free time to explore Rome a bit and do a little shopping. I bought myself a pair of earrings and a few gifts for my family back home and Jordann, Savannah, Oakley, Oliver and I walked around back by the river. We met up with everyone again by the Vatican museum and all went back together to the bus to go to our first hotel, which was a really nice 4-star hotel tucked away outside of Rome, really close to the beach of the Mediterranean Sea. We didn't have time that night to go out onto it, since you're not allowed on the beaches in Italy after the sun goes down, but we were way too tired anyways.
We ate dinner at the hotel, starting again with pasta. This time it was in a red sauce with zucchini in it and the second course was fish with green beans. For dessert they put a big bowl of fruit on the table and we could have our choice (apple for me!) Afterwards, we all went up to our rooms to catch some z's. I was rooming with Jordann and Oakley and another Australian newie named Alex. She's super nice and we all got along really well. I went to bed nice and early that night, knowing that the next day was going to be just as tiring as this one had been.
Day 3: Can you believe we're only on day 3?? Well we are. Day 3 was spent, again, in Rome. We started off with a nice bus ride to the Colosseum, and we all slept. But once we got there and we saw that the sun was out, everyone had a decent amount of energy and we walked from the parking lot to the Colosseum, taking pictures like mad people and being ridiculously touristy. We spent the whole morning in our four groups with the same guide that we had had at the Vatican, though this time, no walkie-talkie devices. We went into the Colosseum and were guided around the whole thing, hearing the history of it all and imagining real gladiators fighting inside of it thousands of years ago. We also saw some graffiti carved into the walls and wondered how old that was... In the process, I also met some new people and talked to people I new but never really talked to before.
After the Colosseum, we moved on to the ruins of Ancient Rome. Here, we walked around and saw the remains of all kinds of different buildings. It's crazy to think that even after the wear and tear of thousands of years, these things still exist... And people actually lived there! It's so interesting to see. Fun fact #2: At the beginning, all of that was white. So when you came into Rome, you were walked into a white city. Nuts!
The next thing after Ancient Rome was free time. Which meant food time. Savannah and I went off after receiving our ten euros from the Rotary to try to find an authentic Italian restaurant with cheap-ish food. We found ourselves at a little restaurant with good deals and quickly realized that it was becoming an exchange student hub, which happened continuously throughout the trip. We ordered bruschetta to start off with, which is basically toasted bread covered in a tomato and basil mixture with salt and olive oil. It became my new favorite food very quickly. Then we ordered a margherita pizza and a salad to split. The best thing about Italian food is that it isn't heavy, even though you would think it is. For our salad, our dressing was just balsamic vinegar and olive oil. The pizza had a super thin and crunchy crust and you could tell that it was home-made. Just overall, it was a delicious meal and I was falling deeper and deeper in love with Italian food.
After we ate, we realized that we were going to be late to meet back up with everyone else, so we ran back to the square where we had to meet, but it turns out that we were not nearly the last ones to get there. So we snuck off for a bit to check out a really cool looking store with different shapes and colors of pasta, biscotti, and fancy spices. Who remembers the explicit chocolate from Brugge? You know, the ones that were in the shapes of a certain male appendage... Yah, well it turns out it's not just for chocolate. We found pasta in the same shape. And we laughed. Anyways, we sampled the different biscotti and finally decided on a couple to buy, along with really cool bow-tie pastas that were colored to look like the Italian flag as gifts for our host families. By this time, we had missed the group, which was no big deal because we knew exactly where they were going and we quickly caught up with them at the Pantheon.
The Pantheon is really cool because in the dome ceiling, there is a giant hole. Just in the center, just like that. And it doesn't matter what gets in. Again, there was marble and statues everywhere and that was really awesome to look at too. We took our pictures and went outside. By this time, Savannah and I had met back up with Jordann and we were about to break away from our group. You see, Jordann has a friend in Rome who was an exchange student in her town. Her name is Sabina. And as we were in Rome, she contacted her friend to see if she wanted to get together. So Jordann took Savannah and me with her and we went to meet Sabina. She is really nice and we had a great afternoon together! We started off by going to a gelato place with so many flavors, it's impossible to pick which ones you want. I finally ended up choosing one scoop chocolate and strawberry combo, one scoop wild berry. It was my first gelato ever and boy was it delicious.
Our next stop was the famous Trevi Fountain. It was really cool being shown around the city and going to the big monuments with someone who actually lives there. And of course, we followed tradition and flung coins over our shoulders into the fountain. I have the best series of photos of that :) And it means we're coming back to Rome! After the fountain, we went to the Spanish steps. We asked Sabina why they are called that, but she didn't even know. They're just in a Spanish style I guess. But it is a really beautiful view from the top. And there are painters and vendors all over selling pretty pictures and paintings of Italy. We went down the steps, took pictures and continued being the tourists that we were. But it was soon coming upon the time that we had to meet back up with Rotary, so what do we do? We make like the Italians and use the subway! Sabina showed us how it works and for one euro we were able to take the two different trains to bring us back to the Colosseum. Of course, once we were at the Colosseum, finding our group was a little difficult. We walked almost all the way around it and it turned out that we needed to be pretty much where we started... But it was no big deal because we got to meet an awesome Italian girl and see an incredible Italian city in the process. We said goodbye to her, met up with Rotary, and then the whole group walked back to the buses where we started the journey back to our hotel.
We got back and we had about 15 minutes so I ran to the beach with my friend Mallory who is also a dancer and we took a few fun dancing shots in the black sand with the dark ocean behind us. It is incredible, the Mediterranean Sea. Because the sand really is black. And it's just sand that happens to be black. It's not rocks or shells or dirt. It's sand. And it's AWESOME. So we had fun taking our pictures quickly and then we ran back to the hotel to catch dinner. That night, we started off with pasta, of course, and had a sort of pork and potatoes for the meal and finished off with more gelato. So I had two gelatos in one day... But no biggie :) After dinner, all the exchange students gathered in the courtyard of the hotel because it was the birthday of one of the guys, Jackson (who has insane orange hair, just throwing it out there). We sang Happy Birthday, the Rotary guys gave him a gift, and we shared cake and champagne in the courtyard. Afterwards, I think some people went to the pool, but my room went upstairs to shower and sleep since we had to get up early the next morning.
Day 4: We started off our next morning getting up wayy too early and packing up all our luggage. It wasn't very nice out in the morning; it was cold and windy and dreary. But we packed up the bus and drove for a while until we got to our first stop for the day: Ostia Antica, the door of Ancient Rome. It started to rain when we first got there, but it quickly cleared up and after just a half hour, the sun was shining and life was good. We started off in our four groups and we were given the option to stay with our Rotary person who would give the explanations or go off on our own. Savannah and I started off in the group but eventually broke off by ourselves to explore a little bit. Then we came upon the ancient theater. Right behind it were some steps with old broken down columns. Next thing I knew, we were ready to take dance pictures. I had been carrying around my pointe shoes like a dork for the whole trip, so I pulled them out and we took some really lovely dance photos among the ruins. It was fun, except for one instance where my skirt was literally blown all the way up... Classy. Pretty soon it was time to go meet back up with the group and we started to head back towards the entrance. But after we were about halfway there I realized that I had left my badge on a rock all the way back where we had taken pictures. So we ran back to grab it. Needless to say, we were late meeting the group, but we were not the last ones, so it was ok. We all got back in the bus for more driving towards our next stop, the Monastery of Monte Cassino.
On the way there, we stopped along the highway to grab lunch. And you know what's sad? Even in a quick roadside place on the highway, the food is better than quite a few of the sit-down restaurants that you can find in the States. Savannah and I split a three course meal, which was a delicious salad with mozzarella, risotto, and a vegetable dish in a red sauce that was as hearty as a beef stew. On the side of the road!! It was delicious, not gonna lie.
The afternoon was spent in the monastery, and I have to say, I've never been in such a beautiful, calm, peaceful place in my life. The minute you walked in you just felt... Light. And full of happiness. The monastery is situated in the mountains, above a village and from the balconies of the estate, you can see out over the most stunning landscape... It was the first time in a long time that I can truly say I felt God's presence, especially since I've been in Belgium and not going to church regularly. We did not have a guide, we just walked around quietly, taking it all in. The whole place is white, and with the sun it was just shining with beauty. Eventually we ended up in the actual church of the monastery and that was just beautiful. We ended up staying there through a prayer service that was given by the monks and that was very interesting because it was basically just them chanting prayers in Italian, which was so lovely to hear. It was really exactly what I needed. And then something wonderful happened. I found myself praying. In French. For 40 minutes. The words just coming and spilling out of me. I felt like I couldn't even pray in English because the words just weren't there. It was one of the best experiences I've had here in Europe, and probably the best spiritual experience I've had in my life. I felt so at peace.
Afterwards, we found our bus and winded our way down the mountain to the road towards Naples, where we would spend the next three nights. But that, my dears, is for another blog :)
Pictures coming later!
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