Venice and Murano, Italy & Home

Wednesday morning we left Florence on a coach around 9:30 and arrived in Venice around 1. I drug my poor suitcase across the streets and bridges of the city (since cars are only allowed in the city to a certain point) and we waited outside our hotel in a little alley as everything got checked in and ready. We stored our luggage in an open room since we couldn’t check in yet, and then we headed out to grab lunch. Sarah, Kyle, Nate, Andy, E-Ho, Natalie, Marilyn, Maria and I went to a little restaurant on the water and I tried risotto, which is a creamy sauce with cheese. It was an interesting taste but I’m glad I tried it.

As we were walking back to our hotel, Sarah and I found Clay and Molly hanging out beside the canal, and we all decided to go to Murano together (but not before breaking down and buying some Kit Kat gelato—amazing). Venice is famous for the isle of Murano, which makes glass of all sorts. We took a boat taxi (how neat!) to Murano and immediately were ushered into a glass making show, which was so awesome to watch. You could tell the guy creating the glassware had done it a million times before. He made a pitcher and a horse standing on his hind legs right in front of us. We looked in their showroom, but it was a little pricey, so we spent the next hour or so looking at all the shops along the water. They were all virtually the same, but some of them had really different things. Most popular were tiny little glass creatures ranging from frogs to lions to monkeys, bottle stoppers, funky looking clocks, among many other things. I bought plenty of little creatures for myself and as gifts, and then we headed back to Venice (after we freaked out that we were going to get fined 40 euro on the bus taxi and jumped off).

Clay and I walked around a bit and found an Italian restaurant that looked pretty tasty, and I stuffed myself with bread and olive oil and spaghetti carbonara. It was really good. I went to bed fairly early (this traveling is wearing me down!) and the next morning Molly, Clay, Sarah and I set out to explore the city. There were only a few specific things we heard we should see, so for the first time all semester, we just wandered around the city without a plan. The isle itself is not very big at all and we covered most of the area in the day. I absolutely loved Venice. The canals and old buildings are so picturesque and perfect.

We wandered around and stumbled upon a few really beautiful churches, and then we found a Leonardo da Vinci museum. I am absolutely fascinated by him, so we all paid 5 euro to go into this interactive museum that had reproduced many of his sketches and showed how they worked. There was an example of his bullet design to his military ideas, and drawings of how he thought the body and muscles worked. It was so so neat to me because if one person had invented only one of the things he did, it would be amazing—but he studied and revolutionized so many things. Not to mention he was an incredible artist. I just loved it!

I got a piece of pizza for lunch and it was one of the best I’ve had in Italy. So delicious! As we continued walking we noticed all sorts of masquerade attire and especially masks. Apparently Marti Gras is a huge deal there and it seemed like it would have been awesome to be there because those mask shops were everywhere. We walked to San Marco Piazza and listened to a musical group including four stringed instruments and a piano by ridiculously beautiful music. It seriously gave me goose bumps. We saw the San Marco Cathedral, which was incredibly intricate and beautiful from the outside, aside from the fact that half of it was covered in scaffolding (of course). The line to get in was tremendously long, so we skipped out and headed toward the Grand Canal, which was lined with gondola boats. We found another cathedral and saw the inside of that one before finding our way back to the hotel in the maze of streets that is Venice. We settled on another siesta and slept for a couple of hours.

That night a huge group of us (Matt, Marilyn, Natalie, E-Ho, Clay, Molly, Sara, Maria, Kyle, Sarah, Nic, Andy, and I) set out to find a restaurant that Hillary had recommended to us. She said she ate there the second time she went to Venice and it was far better than any other touristy spot. So we walked for a good while to Da Paolo and I sat down to a tasty dinner of sausage pizza. We all recounted memories from the semester and did a lot of laughing. We took some pictures together as a group and Clay and I got some gelato from the place right next to our hotel, which was of course wonderful. My roommates were asleep when I got back, so I followed suit and got a good night’s sleep.

I got up around 7:30 Friday morning to take a shower, charge some electronics, ate a weird sort of breakfast downstairs, and get my back packed and ready by 9:30. We all placed our luggage in storage for the day, and I headed out with Chelsea, Ali, Jessi, Jeryn, Emily, Kara, and Jacob. Several of us wanted to go on a gondola ride and we found a deal for 70 euros for six people. We took the guy up on his offer as this was a pretty decent deal, and he paddled us around Venice for about 30 minutes. It was so cute and Italian! It was only about 12 euro per person, so I’m glad I did it.

As we were deciding where to go for lunch, the thought of free refills was brought up (a concept unrecognized in all European countries). We had heard rumor of free refills at the Hard Rock Café, and we were sold. I enjoyed a heavenly meal of sweet tea (kind of) and a huge juicy cheeseburger and garlic mashed potatoes. I knew I was coming home so soon and it was my last Italian meal but I had eaten pizza and pasta for nine days and I was really dying for American dining. We all indulged and decided lying by the docks sounded good. We walked to the Grand Canal and enjoying the sun and warm concrete until—alas, we were awoken by the Italian police! Apparently sleeping in the streets is illegal. We aren’t hobos, but I suppose breaking the law is breaking the law!

Chelsea and I stopped in the only McDonald’s in Venice to get Wifi but to no avail. So we got one last scoop of gelato (Kit Kat again) and went back to our hotel to gather our luggage. We did just that and hung out in the garden area for about an hour. My suitcase somehow made it to the bus stop area (it is literally falling apart) and Sarah, Cheslea, Ali and I hung out on a bench in the shade as we waited for our coach to arrive. The weather was so perfect! Finally our bus came at 5 o’clock and we drove to the airport and waited to check in for about an hour. Chelsea and I had fun just hanging out and talking. We got all checked in and boarded our plane, which took off at 8:20. Once we landed at Gatwick, we got on a coach to Heathrow Airport, where we met our luggage and said goodbye to Doug one last time. Chelsea and I had quite an experience transferring our luggage (we each had four suitcases) on the carts and mine even took a spill once.

We found Clay and spent the next hour or so moving around everything in our suitcases in order to have each one weigh less than 23 kilos. I was actually underweight on all of mine, so go me! After that was all figured out, we went to Arrivals, where there were open seats. I stayed up the ENTIRE night so I could sleep on the plane the next morning. At that point, I just wanted to be home. I was not feeling too hot when we got on the plane, but Chelsea’s sleeping pills knocked us out pretty quickly. I slept for most of the plane ride, and then Chelsea and I were flying through the airport in order to make our connecting flight from Chicago to Nashville. It was so weird knowing we were back in America! My suitcase had to get inspected (and they stole my face lotion AGAIN) but we made it to our gate in time.

We were a little late landing and we were told it was a bit stormy outside, but there were no problems other than that. On the way to pick up our luggage, dad, Sloan and Paige were waiting for me and I hugged them all for about five minutes each it seemed like. I was soooo happy to see them! I said bye to Chelsea once her parents arrived, and I finally had my favorite meal of all time: Cracker Barrel dumplins with biscuits and sweet tea. It was amazingly wonderful. We got on the road back home before all of the flooding hit Nashville—we got so lucky! I did all I could to stay awake (by texting, mostly) and finally I was back in my kitchen and living room (with an awesome banner, I might add), hugging Diamond and Baxter.

It really wasn’t as strange to be home as I thought it would be. Everything is basically the same as when I left it—the only thing that has changed is me. I love this town and all my friends and family here. I know now the big world that lies outside of this place, and I can say I’ve been changed for good. It’s not something you can easily put into words, or pinpoint exactly what has changed. I’ve just grown from my experiences in so many different ways, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I am so thankful to WKU and the Honors College for giving me this opportunity, and I owe the most thanks to all my family and friends who supported me every step of the way. I will miss my traveling adventures, the running to catch my train, the bland English food, the tasty Italian food, the Bistro parties, the cramming for British Studies exams, the running of certain miles, and all the wonderful people I met and lifelong friends I made this semester—but I will always remember Harlax10.

Florence and Pisa, Italy

Our coach ride was about three hours long to Florence. Once we got inside the city, I could already tell I liked the atmosphere better than Rome. It was still touristy of course, but there were parks and cute buildings everywhere; it seemed much more small-town. We got settled in at the hotel and decided to go out to eat together. There were 15 of us on a mission to find dinner, which we did at Christiano’s restaurant. It didn’t seem to be too fancy, but Italian was on the menu and that is always okay with everyone. I had a cheese sauce pasta that was pretty good. We also discovered that most restaurants offer free wine to students, which was taken advantage of by some. I also had the tiramisu and that was heavenly. I’m so happy I discovered that I like it! We had fun talking and hanging out and then Sarah, Matt, Sara and I walked back to the hotel together, where we found Clay and Molly and hung out in the SAE boy’s room until that got a little silly.

Monday morning Molly, Sarah, Clay, Chelsea, Sara, Rahcel, Jessi, Ali, Jeryn, Kara, Emily and I all caught a train to Pisa in the morning. The town was pretty small with all sorts of restaurants outside and shops. We went straight to the famous Leaning Tower of Pisa, which was so awesome to see! It seriously is leaning so much. Like it looks as though it might tumble over any second. We took all the touristy pictures of course, and Molly had the awesome idea of running at the Tower and acting like you’re kicking it in the air. We got some pretty funny pictures that way and a lot of laughs. Chelsea and I got macked on by some Italian weirdos, but we met a really nice American cyclist team and talked to them for a while and even got a picture with them. We went to the other side of the tower to stand on the blocks and act like you’re pushing it over with your foot. It was a lot harder than it looked, but I got a pretty awesome picture from it. We split up and Rachel, Sarah, Clay, Sara and I got some lunch at a café cleverly named Pisa Pizza. I had a ham and cheese calzone and this amazingly delicious Peach tea.

Once we made it back to Florence, also known as Firenze in Italian, we went to the Duomo Cathedral, the city’s most famous church. We weren’t allowed inside in shorts, so we just hung out on the steps for a bit and then walked around the city for the evening. It was nice to just take it all in. We went to all the markets at San Lorenzo and those were awesome. There was all sorts of leather—leather books, purses, coats, wallets, anything you can think of—as well as ties, scarves, clothes and shoes. I got some really neat souvenirs and gifts. I also found this store called Scriptorium, which is possibly my favorite shop of all time. It was filled with leather bound books, pens, desk accessories, and you could tell it was all legit stuff. I loved it so much, but I figured everything would be too expensive.

That night, we met up with a girl in Sarah and Molly’s sorority who has been studying abroad in Florence all semester. We went with her to a friend’s apartment, which was full of Americans, so that was interesting. An Italian man who the students have made good friends with made a traditional Italian meal, which was different but tasty. Hillary (Sarah and Molly’s friend) took us to a 1-euro gelato place (amazing) and we went back to the hotel.

Tuesday morning Sarah, Clay, Molly and I got an early early start and went to the Uffizi at 8 am. We got in line soon enough to be the second group into the museum, which was set up pretty differently. It was made up of two basic hallways with all sorts of busts lining the walls. Rooms went off from those corridors, and we checked out all sorts of Renaissance art. We saw Buchelli’s The Birth of Venus, which I loved so much. I’ve seen that image so many times and it was huge and beautiful in person. We saw a few works by da Vinci and I really enjoyed seeing paintings by him I’d never even heard of before, as well as a sketch he began but never completed.

We went to a Piazza that holds all sorts of replica statues including the David, as well as originals that we got to see up close and personal. The replica David’s location is where the original was kept when it was first commissioned in the early 1500s. A riot against the Medici family caused a bench to be thrown out a window, and David lost his left arm. After he was put back together, it was decided he would be kept inside and protected from then on. We went back to the Duomo (propely dressed this time) and went inside. It was far less decorated than any other cathedral I’ve been in here, but the outside made up for it. It was elaborately decorated in green, pink and white marble. Every inch had some sort of design on it, creating a breathtaking scene from outside.

We went to the San Lorenzo Cathedral and saw it from the outside since it wasn’t free admission. It was much more traditional than the Duomo, but beautiful all the same. We went through the market again and Clay bought a really nice leather duffle bag he had wanted the whole trip. We went back to the church steps and waited to meet Hillary at 11:30 after she got out of class. She took us to a local sandwich shop and I got a turkey and pesto sub on toasted bread and it was seriously amazing. It was awesome. We went to a gelato placed called Grom, which we had heard had the best gelato in Florence. Wrong! They skimped on the ice cream so much and it wasn’t all that great. But no mind! Hillary showed us the indoor food market, complete with duck and pig heads.

Next up was the Academia Gallery, and Hillary graciously let us borrow her museum card, which allowed us to skip the humongous line outside and get in quickly as long as Sarah and I passed for sisters as Clay and Molly’s cousins. It worked and we got right in! For some reason our tickets were more expensive that way, but I can’t complain. We walked into the main part of the museum and I began glancing around and my eyes were drawn to a beautifully lit area, and the David by Michelangelo hit my eyes. I know I say this about a lot of things, but it was truly breathtaking. I had no idea it was so ridiculously huge. His foot was the size of my torso plus my head. It was so amazing to see the white structure I’ve seen a hundred times in books in real life. That was worth at least the 10.50 euro I paid for admission. That area was lined with sculptures that Michelangelo started but never completed, which is just as cool as a finished sculpture if you ask me. You can see the actual makings of the art and that’s awesome to me.

We looked at another section of the museum’s sculptures and learned that the artists put nails or tacks in their plaster models in order to make it easier to create the replica. There were so many busts lining the walls. We made one last trip to the San Lorenzo market and got a good deal on a lot of ties. And after a terribly busy but awesome day, we made like the Spanish and had a siesta (took a nap) for about two hours. It was glorious and much needed. I decided that since I had only bought small trinkets and t-shirts for myself, I wanted to get something nice and memorable, so Clay and I went back to the Scriptorium shop (after we got lost). I spent about 45 minutes picking out the perfect gift for myself, and settled on a brown leather journal kind of book with lined paper inside. It’s so gorgeous and I’m so happy that I bought it. I’ll have it forever and I’m going to do something special with it. The man who owned the shop was so so nice and he engraved my initials on the front for free! He said he had owned his stop for about 20 years and told me I could order anything I wanted online.

We went back to the hotel and I finished getting ready, then walked with Molly and Clay to Hillary’s apartment where they were staying. They got changed and got ready and we went on a mad search for a pizza parlor we never found, but we went to Gusta Pizza instead which was really good. Molly and I even got heart-shaped pizzas—how cute! It was very good. We saw the Gates of Paradise across from the Duomo, which could be from the third or fourth century. They are made of bronze and were really amazing to see. We went to a pub called Bebop that Hillary recommended, as it was Beatles night. Italians singing Beatles music, how awesome! The band was really good and it would have been much more enjoyable had the place not been filled to three times its capacity. We did not stay long and I went to sleep for my last night in beautiful Florence, ready to tackle Venice the next day!

Leaving Harlaxton & Rome and Capri, Italy

Just when I had accepted the fact that our Italy school trip would not be occurring, just when I hadn’t packed a single thing, and just when I got out of our very last British Studies exam at 11:30 am, I discovered that we were, in fact, going to Italy as scheduled. It was awesome news but at the same time caused me to panic. Clay panicked even more because he and Molly had to leave the manor at 1:10 to catch their train to the airport that afternoon since they decided to travel to Italy separately. So I returned my books for a big payback of about five pounds and rushed to Clay’s room to help him pack. We literally packed up his entire room in less than two hours. That sounds like a lot of time, but when you have four months of messiness, it’s cutting it close. We made it up to the manor by 1 and we sprinted off in different directions—Clay went to get tags for his luggage as I ran around the manor, getting his checkout sheet signed in the business office and library. It was absolutely insane and he barely made it onto the shuttle, but we got it done.

I then turned my attention to my own issues, which included saying a tearful goodbye to Alex and Susan who were leaving that afternoon for home. I hurried back to my room and tried to figure out where to start packing—which I learned had to be done by 5 that evening, even though we weren’t leaving until 2 in the morning. I began by packing my Italy suitcase, which was kind of fun to pack because it included all sorts of summer clothes and sandals, which I hadn’t seen in quite sometime. I decided I probably ought to eat something for the first time that day and made some Easy Mac. I went back to my room and began unloading my drawers and closet when there was a knock. I didn’t even bother to look because I couldn’t think who would be coming to my room to see me when we were all in a panic to pack. Then I saw someone out of the corner of my eye—it was Clay! “What are you doing here?!” I said, and he told me he had missed his train by a minute. But he was determined to get to Italy, so he got in touch with Molly, who had decided to stay back at Harlaxton until then, and they found another flight to book.

Meanwhile, I continued to pack up four months of my life in two suitcases (and a carry-on and a backpack), which I barely got finished by 5. We lugged my luggage to the manor and put it in the proper room and ordered one final time from Pizza King, which was absolutely delicious. Since everything was basically done until checkout began for me at 12:30, we had the rest of the night. So Clay and I walked “the mile” and took a few pictures of Harlaxton with the sun setting on the building, which was gorgeous. It was strange to reflect on how quickly the semester passed, as I knew it would. I couldn’t believe all the places I’ve been to in the past four months. It seems like it was some other person who experienced all those things. I still feel like the same girl, but maybe just a newer and better version. I’ve experienced so many things that are hard to convey in words, but that have opened my eyes in countless ways. This semester has far exceeded my expectations and I couldn’t be more blessed to have had the opportunity.

Everything went pretty smoothly that night for checkout, not to mention I found my room keys that I lost at the beginning of the semester, so I didn’t have to pay 25 pounds! I signed the pipes in the downstairs laundry room as a permanent mark, and then I woke up Sarah and Rachel at 1:30 who happened to have fallen asleep and didn’t get up in time for checkout. It was a bit stressful, but we made it onto the coach in plenty of time. I stuck in my iPod and slept for the three-hour ride to the airport in London. We got there at about 5, went through security just fine, and waited to board our plane until about 6:30. As soon as I sat down, I’m pretty sure I was asleep. I wasn’t even up long enough to hear all the precautions from the flight attendants (not that I haven’t heard those plenty of times this semester). I woke up once as we were flying over the Swiss Alps, and I think my thoughts got as far as, “Oh, the Swiss Alps, I should probably take a pict…” and I was fast asleep again.

We landed in Rome (ROME!) and loaded a coach to our hotel. We got settled in, changed clothes, and met Molly and Clay outside, who had made it there no problem after so many complications, and grabbed a quick bite at a pizza parlor around the corner. And when I say pizza parlor I mean to say delicious. This pizza was seriously unlike any I have ever had. All I can say is, they know what they’re doing in Italy. Sarah, Molly, Clay, Chelsea and I hopped on a bus toward Vatican City and checked out St. Peter’s Basilica, which was really awesome, but I thought it looked totally different from the outside than I expected. The Pope addresses his people from there and the inside was so gorgeous. It’s really interesting to see the trends in churches, cathedrals and basilicas all across Europe. They are all essentially of the same structure and ideas. We even got to rub Peter’s foot, which is apparently something most people do once inside.

We did the next most Italian thing we could aside from pizza, and that’s gelato. Gelato is seriously out of this world—even better than ice cream, and if you know me, that’s a big deal. I tried chocolate and tiramisu and it was heavenly. We also found a drinking fountain statue type of thing, which we all drank out of, and it was wonderfully cold water. Next we headed into the Vatican Museum, which was full of beautiful artwork, statues and tapestries. The coolest thing in there was by far the Sistine Chapel. I loved it so much. It was so surreal to me to be in the actual room where Michelangelo painted his ideas of religion on the ceiling. It was absolutely gorgeous and my breath was truly taken away when I saw “Creation.” I’ve seen that image hundreds of times in my life, and there it was, the original thing. So neat! We also saw the monument to Emmanuel II, which was a huge white building with statues at various points. It was very White House-ish. On the way back to the hotel we spotted a pretty fountain area in the middle of the road so we checked that out.

We showered once back in the room and Chelsea, Clay, Molly, Ali and I went to a restaurant around the corner from out hotel. It was awesome because it was legit Italian—the real deal. I got four-cheese sauce pasta and it was amazing. We crashed fairly early that night and woke up the next morning to find it was raining outside. We had planned to spend the day in Rome and go to the island of Capri the next day, but as the weather worked out, we decided to go to Capri that day. So Sarah, Clay, Chelsea and I went to the train station to figure out what we needed to do first. We bought a train ticket to Napoli (the REAL Naples) and spent about two hours on the journey there. Once we arrived, we learned we needed to take a bus to the ferry station and after at least thirty minutes of trying to find the right bus in the rain as well as where the heck to buy the tickets (the “tobaki” store, apparently), we made it onto the bus. The problem was, although we pressed the stop button, it went about half a mile too far before it dropped us off. So we had to walk through this car tunnel, which was swirling with dirt and dust and made me feel so disgusting, but we found the ferry port eventually. And once we found that, we discovered that the next ferry left in four minutes. So Chelsea basically threw her money at the cashier and we all sprinted onto the ferry as it was literally pulling away from the dock. It was such a close call, but it was hilarious since we made it. The joys of traveling!

The ferry ride was hysterical because the waves were absolutely massive. I felt like I was on a jet ski on the lake. My stomach was doing that weird flippy thing like it does on roller coasters, but we were all cracking up and it was so funny. Finally we made it to Capri, and our prayers were answered as it quit raining upon our arrival. We walked down to the beach where the water was so clear it looked fake. We took a tram to the very top of the island and the view was so beautiful from there. The pictures can only do it justice. We looked for a place to eat for much longer than necessary, and finally settled on a little restaurant overlooking the water. Clay and I split ravioli and pizza, and they were both amazing. The pizza was way different from the first kind we had, but it was mouthwatering all the same. We looked in some of the shops close to our restaurant and, of course, had round two of gelato. This time I got After Eight, which is the same as mint chocolate chip, and an almond chocolate combination, which was so so good.

We went back to the bottom of the island to get our ferry ticket back, which was far less eventful than our journey there. Although we didn’t get to spend much time on the actual island, I’m glad to be able to say I went there and saw its beauty. We got back on the bus through Naples, which I must say was a pretty disgusting place. We were not in the touristy part at all, and it was covered in trash and sketchy people. We made it back to Rome at about 9:30, and Chelsea, Clay and I decided to go see the Trevi Fountain at night. We got a quick piece of pizza from our faithful place around the corner, and began our journey. It was a bit of a walk there, but it was worth it—the fountain is this massive white structure with all sorts of carvings and statues all over it. The water runs into a big pool below it, and it was lit up and beautiful. Clay and Chelsea got some more gelato (I decided to sit this round out), and we headed back to the hotel. It was a tiring but awesome day.

Saturday we woke up to more rain unfortunately, but we went through with our schedule anyway. It was kind of a bad day for me personally because all sorts of things kept going wrong for me. I definitely wore the wrong shoes because they had zero traction and the entire city is covered in stones that become ultra-slick when wet. I was sliding all over the place all day, the ATM didn’t give me my money, the souvenir place wouldn’t take my card, and I was just a little bit frustrated. I can’t complain about all the awesome things we got to see though.

First up on the list was the Colloseum. Like, THE Colloseum. I know this goes without saying but it was so OLD. It was such an awesome feeling standing in a structure that has been standing for almost 2,000 years. There were signs explaining the way the Romans used the building, and that was basically their entertainment. People and animals alike would fight and chase each other around the maze underneath the floor that would be removed. Gladiators would fight their opponents and people watched from the seats surrounding the center. There were broken pieces of rock with Latin engraved in them—that is just so cool to see. We also saw Rome’s special arc thing, which was just like France’s and Spain’s.

Next we checked out Circus Maximus, which was a huge oval track where the chariot races would be held. It was kind of strange because there were no signs or anything holding you back from just walking on the track. Next we walked through the paths that took you past all the ancient ruins that were still standing. We also did an experiment to see how well I could get around without my glasses on—I’m pretty blind, as it turns out. But once I put my specs back on, it was really cool to see. We got to see where the first democracy was held at the Roman Forum—how cool is that? I tried my first honeysuckle (weird) and got to smell real lavender flowers (yum). I also invented the adjective Molliest, which I intend to use daily.

Now you can’t forget that this entire time, everyone’s feet are getting dirty from the mud and rain, and I’m slipping and sliding all over the place. My legs were seriously about to die from keeping them so tensed up all day. But we trekked on and went inside the Pantheon, a church famous for its hole in the ceiling. It was just raining all over the ground in the center, but I bet it’s beautiful when the sun it out and it’s shining through. We got some more gelato (so tasty) and checked out the Trevi Fountain in the daytime. The sun finally came out, so the marble looking beautiful in the daylight, but there was such a ridiculous amount of people there. But we all made wishes by throwing a coin with our right hand over our left shoulder, and kept going.

We made it to the Spanish Steps as the sun became really strong and we all heated up pretty quickly. The Spanish Steps are literally just a bunch of steps leading up to a beautiful building. The Steps had rows and rows of purple flowers covering them and we enjoyed the view by relaxing there for a bit. Apparently if you live in Rome, that is the place to “be seen.” We walked up and down the streets near the Steps and went in several shops. All the stores were very fancy and expensive for the most part. Finally we made it back to the hotel, got another slice of pizza from our next-door favorite place, and called it a night.

Sunday morning our coach was leaving at 1:30, so we planned to get some sleep in the morning, get some lunch and head out. Unfortunately for us, we were awoken at about 10:30 by Kyle who said that checkout was at 11. Panic ensued as we showered and cleaned and packed in order to get downstairs as soon as possible. We were late but we placed our luggage with everyone else’s, and Clay, Sarah, Kyle, Nick, Andy, Rachel and I got another piece of pizza (I told you I’m living like an Italian!) and sat on the sidewalk in the sun. We all just chatted for a while before we had to load the bus, thus ending our adventures in Rome!