Back in the Ole US of A

Hey everyone,

I made it to Minneapolis with all my bags and only 4 hours late.

I was able to make the next flight out of Chicago to Minneapolis on standby because I had missed my original flight. At O'Hare it was confusing and slightly frustrating but that was expected. A guy I was with as we tried to get back through security asked why everyone was so angry. My answer, we are in Chicago. It was such a great welcome back experience...But it was great to be back in the US if I got stranded or something.

When I got on my flight to Minneapolis I got an email from my friend Lindsey who was stuck in Freiburg still and I that made me really sad. I was sad for her, I was sad that the experience was official over, I was excited to be done traveling, I was excited to see my dad and family, it was a wide range of emotions. Therefore I cried for probably 30 min of the hour flight. I am sure people around me thought I was ridiculous, but give me a break by that time I had been awake for 20 hours and said goodbye to great friends and I just needed to cry.

Once I got to Minneapolis I booked it to the baggage claim where my dad was waiting. I literally ran into his arms and started crying some more. Again I was tired, happy, sad all at once. It has been a crazy two days of emotions along with sometimes just being dazed. Yesterday my aunt Andrea took me to exchange my remaining Euros and I got sentimental about exchanging them, I teared up a little. I have been preparing myself for transitioning back, more so about big things, but I don't think that is going to be necessary. It's going to be the little things that get me.

I have already missed being able to use little inside jokes that my friends and I had. I had to text one of them last night so I could get it out into the universe. I became really close with some of them and I am going to miss them a lot. But as Kayla said, when we reunion (used as a verb) it will all be good again.

I am hanging out with family and doing Christmas Eve traditions later tonight, watching Die Hard (the first one was around Christmas so therefore they are Christmas movies).

I hope everyone has a great Christmas Eve, Christmas, New Years and Holidays wherever they are.

This will be my last blog. Thank you for reading. It has been a great experience and a chapter of my life I will never forget and one that I am so glad I had the courage to do. Thank you everyone for your support and love as I have been abroad.

I love y'all

Cass

Traveling is my Favorite!

So currently I have made it through security at Frankfurt Airport. My flight is delayed by 3 hours so all of this is good news. Also I didn't have to pay for my 2nd checked bag, double bonus.

Meeting interesting people, one girl trying to get to Lubbock after studying in Prague and a guy from Wisconsin going home for a week from teaching English in Austria.

Crossing fingers that everything goes well. Hearing slight horror stories from other people in my program as I see them around the airport. But I will not fall victim!!!!

Had a really good last night in Freiburg with friends. Hard to say goodbye but I am going to try my hardest to see a lot of them again. Already have a date with Mina when I am in Minneapolis.

Also I finally bonded with one of my roommates the last night. Unfortunately it took alcohol and the last night to achieve that but it happened, so that's a small victory.

I will let yall know when I get home or I am sure you will hear through the grapevine.

Love you all

I'll be home soon!

Cass

More Love in Barcelona

Hi everyone,

Sorry it has been such a long time between posts. The weeks have been full of papers, tests, and stress that I really haven't had time to blog. Actually that's not true, because the time I spent procrastinating on my paper I'm sure I could have done 3 blogs. But everything got done and we finished up Model EU yesterday so its the end. Crazy. Ill write more about Model EU later.

I want to tell yall about Barcelona because I had so much fun and made so many memories there. As I said before Spain is definitely on my list of places to go back to.

We took the train from Madrid to Barcelona, or pronounced as they do there Barthelona. They speak both Spanish and Catalan there. Barcelona is in Catalonia which is a region in Spain that has autonomy. There language is really important to their culture and identity. Signs are first in Catalan, then Spanish and then English. We had learned about Catalonia in my EU Regions class so it was great to see the differences.

Anyway, we got to the train station and then waited around a long time figuring everything out, because God knows our leaders needed an hour to figure out metro passes and where exactly we were going. We stayed pretty close to the heart of Barcelona on a busy shopping street in a old building that was stores, homes and our small hotel. This was very small. In the bathroom, I had to sit sideways on the toilet because my knees would hit the door. (Was that too much information?)

After we checked in, Margot, Mina, Lindsey and I went to the Sagrada Familia. This the church designed by Guadi, but was not complete before he died and is still not complete. It was the most amazing thing I have seen. You could spend hours both inside and outside looking and finding new things. I wish I would learned about this church in some class or something because it was just incredible. Beyond words.

Sagrada Familia

Sagrada Familia

Outside of Sagrada Familia

Door of church

Ceiling of Church. It felt like we were in a Antz or A Bugs Life.

Breathtaking

We were there at such a good time, the lighting was beautiful. I have so many more pictures and could have taken more.

We then had a walking tour of Barcelona by a professor at the IES center there. She showed us some historic stuff and a good amount of churches, all very different. I love the walking tours because it helps us get a sense of the city and the layout. I approve.

This is a bank and someone was able to write on it. Not sure how. But it reads "This is not a crisis, its just capitalism." Did I mention I was in Europe.

This is the fountain that fans gather around when FC Barcelona wins a big game.

After that a group of us went to a museum and palace that were built on top of underground Roman Ruins. IT WAS AMAZING! Obviously everything was not still fulling intact, because a large amount was. There was a laundry mat, basically. With dye still in the rock. There was fish stores as well as a winery. It was pretty incredible. Also a part of the building on top is the Royal Hall were Christopher Columbus was received by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella.

OH I ALMOST FORGOT THE BEST PART!!!! So when we were walking to the Museum we all needed a pick me up so we were in search for chocolate, of course. We found a little little grocery store. AND GUESS WHAT THEY HAD?!?!?!?!?!! DR PEPPER!!!!!!! Kelli, Mina and I had been wanting dr pepper for SOOOOO long. We were very very excited. It doesn't taste the exact same but it was still fantastic and made our days!!!

Me, Mina and Kelli. Mina didn't get the message that we were not weird face excited.

After that we went back and changed to go have dinner, with plans to go out later. Margot got a recommendation from a friend who had been in Barcelona for a while back to go to this great Tapas restaurant. It was a little nicer and more expensive than we had been going to but we decided to go all out because we only had one dinner on our own in Barcelona. SUCH A GREAT CHOICE!!! It was amazing. I went outside my comfort zone and had mussels. I know, crazy!!!! It was delicious. There was great desserts and everyone really enjoyed it.

Okay I'm about to get real college and young here. Our plan after dinner was to find this shots bar Lindsey's friend had told her she HAD to go. We thought we had the right directions but turns out we didn't. We ended up walking around a bit and then split up. Lindsey, Margot and I went to this club where Lindsey's friend also said she had to go. It was okay. it was the night before thanksgiving, so as one point they had people dressed up as pilgrims and Native Americans have a mealing a meal together and then they became the dancers on stage. Very very strange considering we were in BARCELONA. A little sketch on the outside, but we had fun and then headed home.

Thursday, Thanksgiving day, was very weird for all of us. We all wished each other Happy Thanksgiving but were all a little sad to miss being home. It started off great as I fell down the stairs at our hotel. That was fun. We had a lecture about environmental issues and then went up to this castle that looked out over the water. Really pointless lecture and excursion.

Mediterranean Sea

After our meeting we tried to go see this beautiful concert hall but we didn't want to pay for the tour. So we ended up getting a fabulous lunch at a little restaurant and then headed back to the hotel to change into our business clothes for our last meeting. So, Rome hit us all pretty hard. I was putting on my pants and thought, these weren't this tight in Rome...Thank you pasta!

Our last meeting was RIDICULOUS!!! We took the metro and a bus and then continued to walk for 15-20 min. The meeting was BORING. The guy sounded like a robot, simply read a statement. There were multiple people falling a sleep.

After that we went back to the hotel and relaxed. Both Mina and I were very sick of wearing our business formal and were THRILLED to finally be done with it. I was able to call my parents and wish them Happy Thanksgiving. I also watched some Handball on TV. Fascinating sport actually. I learned in like middle school but it was cool to see it actually being played.

IES had arranged a "Thanksgiving Dinner" for us at a restaurant. It was an okay dinner, but we all finished our first plate and were waiting for the next one. There was no next one. It was no thanksgiving dinner, there was too much vegetables. Everyone was pretty sad after that. ALSO we were given the option of chocolate cake, pudding or flan for dessert. I was one of the first asked so I said all of them, because come on its Thanksgiving and if I'm not getting pie I'm eating everything. I got a weird look from the waitress, but whatever I'm American and this is MY holiday.

Me ready for Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving dinner. Only one of those red wines is mine, I swear.

My dessert platter. I need PIIIIIE!!

So we all left and some people were going to the hotel to regroup but a good amount of us wanted to go to this shots bar, Chupitos. There was probably about 10 of us walking together there and others were gonna join later. We found it and it was so much fun. They have over 100 different kinds of shots. We would just walk up to the bar and say surprise us and they would give us fun, delicious shots. I may have fallen in love again, this time with the bartender. I'll admit it may have been because he was serving me alcohol, but he was cute.

At one point there was 21 of the 30 kids on the south trip there. It was so much fun. It was a great way to end the trip. I was able to spend some time with people I didn't normally.

I may or may not have had 11 different shots. And by may or may not I mean I did. They were mixed so it wasn't straight liquor, so don't freak out at me. I'm gonna list all the shots:

Boy Scout: Shot in front of you and you have a stick with a marshmallow. Bartender puts stuff on the bar top and lights it on fire and you roast the marshmallow then you are supposed to dip the marshmallow into the shot then eat the marshmallow then do the shot. This was the shot Lindsey's friend told her she had to do, so about 8 of us did that one right when we got there.

Boy Scout

"Cherry" Shot: This one had a small gummy cherry in it. Take the shot then eat the gummy. Delicious!

Finding Nemo: This one was green and then a whip cream then a m&m then more whip cream. we had to try and find the m&m with just our face and then take the shot after we found it. I did this one with Lindsey, Margot, and Alex.

Black Widow: Me and Alex did this one. It was ridiculous. We had to take the shot but not swallow, but swish it in our mouths like mouthwash for 5 long sec. Then we swallowed, then had to take a deep breathe in. HOLY CRAP! It was the weirdest feeling ever.

4 shots in 1: Lindsey and I went up to the bar to our bartender, Reuben. He was great because he remembered us and knew what we had done already. We said surprise us and he actually thought about it and changed his mind a couple times. He asked if we wanted strong or fun, we went with strong. He put two shot glasses on the bar, then 4 then 6 then 8. Um excuse me....? he filled each of the first three a little bit then filled the last one all the way up. we had to take them one right after another. and the last one we cheers with him and he "took" a shot too. We got our moneys worth.

"Orange Slice": This one had a orange slice on top then whip cream on that. We (Lindsey and I) had to take the shot with no hands, bad news bears for me.

"Head Massage": This one Margot, Lindsey and I did. We had to take the shot in our hands and then turn around so our backs were to the bar. Then Margot took her shot and I hear her kinda scream and giggle. Then Lindsey, same thing. Then its my turn. I take the shot and as I am Rueben has one of those head massage things and is doing that to my head and massaging my shoulder. See why I am in love now?

Georgia: THIS IS THE SHOT THAT MADE ME A BA! So we wanted to do a fun one. It was Mina, Lindsey, me and a guy in our program Andrew. Reuben pours one shot to show us what we are gonna do. He dips his thumb into the shot and then lights his thumb on fire then puts it in his mouth then takes the shot. UM YEAH about that fire thing. We all shook our heads. Andrew decided to do it. He made it, so I decided to do it. Then Mina and Lindsey did it. It was so cool.

"Upside Down Science Experiment": This shot I did with a bunch of guys in my program I haven't really hung out with so it was a good bonding moment. Its really hard to describe. But the shot was in this test tube looking thing and then was put upside down on a "wire" thing and then we had to suck out the shot with a straw. It was kinda difficult to be honest.

Lorenzo: So Mina was kinda falling asleep and that was not okay. So we went to the bar and asked the bartender, it wasn't Reuben, for something to wake her up. We had to do this by gestures, so that was a good time. The guy brought out this bowl and shot glasses, I had seen this one before and kinda yelled with excitement "OH Ive seen this!" Reuben came over and as like No, and took it away and set up this shot. He had two normal sized glasses put the shot into one and then lite it on fire then covered it with the other glass to put it out. Then made a space between the two and had us drink it with a straw then close it and then opened it again and we had to suck in the fumes that were in the glass. Again HOLY CRAP. after that Mina was awake and ready to continue.

"Straw Shot": This was the last shot of the night. So there was a straw. Reuben melted two parts of the straw to make a bubble. then we took the shot but did not swallow, then we had to spit it into the straw and then the shot was in the bubble. We then bit the bubbles to take the shot again.

Alex and me sharing a drink. Well I guess I was drinking more from the look on her face.

Kinda hard to see, but Me, Alex, Aubrey and Lindsey.

After that they were closing so the lights went on. All night we had two tables and people we were with were always there with the pile of coats and purses. Well when I went to get my coat and purse, I couldn't find my purse. So yeah, I got my purse stolen in Barcelona. Luckily I didn't have my passport or keys in there. Just my credit cards and some Euros. I wasn't really concerned on the way home because I thought maybe someone in our program took it by accident. But once we got back to the room, Mina (who had been pick pocketed in Paris) had me call my mom and let her know what happened. I was clearly a mess and was quite entertaining to Mina as I have learned later. It sucks that I lost my purse and has caused some troubles since being back but all can be replaced and I am safe. But I had a lot of fun, just now need to practice better purse awareness, which I have been.

But definitely new Thanksgiving tradition I think.

Friday we had a lot of free time. We went to the Picasso Museum. I wasn't feeling too hot, but it was a good museum. After that Mina and I went back to the Hotel and napped before it was time to go to the airport to go back to Freiberg.

Our flight was almost an hour and a half late, so we had some quality time with each other at the airport. It was actually really fun. Good memories and good stories told by Mina.

Well that was a long blog, you can see why I have been putting it off a little.

I might blog later today about Model EU and winter here. But I should probably start some packing since I only have two full days left here. Cannot believe it.

Love yall

I left my heart in Madrid

Madrid is a really interesting city. There isn't much touristy things to see like there is Rome. There are some great museums but I am not the biggest museum fan and we didn't really have that much time.

We got into Madrid REALLY late. We were all pretty tired therefore crazy at the airport waiting for our plane. So that was fun, but I think most of us were knocked out on the plane.

Our hotel was REALLY nice. I shared a room with Mina. The beds were very large so it was excellent. I was so tired. When I laid down I literally sighed with relief.

The Hotel had a fabulous breakfast. LOTS of food which is uncommon for European breakfasts as far as I can tell.

We had a meeting about Immigration in Spain. It was okay but I can't remember anything really eye opening from it.

Later that afternoon we had a city tour guided by one of the IES professors in Madrid. We walked around the older part of the city and ended up by the Palace. Its a really great city. I definitely would love to go back for 2 or more weeks and just experience the city. Very livable.

Don't remember what this is but it is a pretty building.

Almudena Cathedral. Beautiful. I absolutely loved it. One of my top favorite Churches I have seen. It is across from the Palace.

Part of the Palace. Not too shabby.

Me and cardboard cut out. I had to do a different face for this one. Its Espana!

After the tour we went back to the hotel and to regroup for another meeting later in the afternoon.

This meeting was with a IES professor as well. I feel in love with this 37 year man. Age is just a number right? He was really knowledgeable, hilarious and super interesting, and attractive. We learned a lot about Spain within the EU. We talked a lot about the Spanish culture and how people live with their parents until they are like 30 and who the birthrate is really low in Spain. Oscar, was his name. And I will return to Madrid and find this man!

Went back to the hotel and waste some time before it is socially acceptable to have dinner in Spain, aka 9:30. It was a LONG trip.

Mina, Lindsey and I ventured out to the area we were on our tour to do some shopping before we ate. We found a really cute jewelry store and obviously souvenir shops.

We walked down a street where our guide said there was good tapas restaurants. We were walking looked a little confused and lost. This woman comes out of a restaurant and starts talking to us in Spanish (I have lost all Spanish skills). She keeps going and then finally realizes we have NO IDEA what she is saying. She says we should come in and she will give us free Tequila. Okay!

So we have our free Tequila which we are supposed to sip. She said she doesn't understand why people shoot it. I do, because sipping it is HARSH.

Sipping on some Tequila.

We ran into some people from our program on our way home. We told them our story of our Mexican lady giving us free Tequila. They corrected us and saying SPANISH thinking we were being ignorant or something. NOPE she was Mexican. There was a large Mexican flag on the wall, but we had Spanish Tapas. They were very good. Also the bartender also gave us another round of free Tequila. Good night, good night.

The next morning we had a meeting with the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This speaker was BORING. There were definitely quite a few people who fell asleep. He sounded like a robot and read directly from a report. Not cool, not cool. College kids, entertain us!

After that we tried to do some sight seeing. We walked around a lot. Went back to the Palace to see if we could get in. It was closed that day but took some pictures.

Palace Courtyard

Palace Courtyard

This is the inside of the Cathedral the ceiling was soooo interesting. This picture doesn't show it well but I bought a postcard. Every little rectangle was painted with a different pattern. It was interesting to see the differences from Rome to Madrid and then later in Barcelona.

This creeped me out. In one of the alcoves of the church there was this painting. Of some saint maybe, I don't know. But IT LOOKS LIKE EMMA WATSON!!! RIGHT?!?!!?!? I rounded the corner and was like why is there a picture of her. Really weird. Mina agreed with me, so I'm not going crazy.

Here is the outside of the church at night.

After we went to the Plaza de Espana and at this point there was like 6 of us and we split as some people were gonna meet friends who were studying in Madrid. It ended up being me, Mina and Lindsey again. There was a little "art fair" like first Thursdays in Austin going on. So we went to some of the booths. Bought more jewelry, don't know when I am going to wear it. But hey I got this in Madrid.

We had looked up a restaurant before we left the hotel and found our way there. It was a local tavern joint with great tapas. We had to ask a couple people to point us in the right direction and this old man brought us there while smoking his cigar. It was really funny. I am a big fan of tapas. They are relatively inexpensive when you share with people. You get a lot of them but you do get full and it comes out being the same price or less than a good meal. We also had some great beer there. Estrella Damm. It was like gelato beer, sound crazy and gross but it was so good. No Tequila that night.

The next morning we had to get going early to catch our train for Barcelona.

It was a very quick trip in Madrid but I definitely want to go back. I really really loved it. It seemed like such a cool city with good vibe. It not a city to do touristy things but I was able to spend some good time with people on the trip and get to know each other more which was really nice. Had really good conversations with Mina and Lindsey and really hope I can keep in touch with them (without Facebook). I honestly don't think I have a choice with Mina she will probably stalk me when I am in Minneapolis

I also learned that I really like public transportation, mostly subways. I find the layout and what not really interesting. I'm well aware that I'm a nerd and I'm pretty sure everyone knows that. But it was an interesting thing to find out about myself. I kept comparing them to the other cities we have been in and Chicago. I definitely have to say Madrid has been my favorite so far. Buses, still not a fan.

Post about Barcelona soon. Have to finish a paper, study for a final and a presentation for tomorrow. Gotta love the end of the semester, its always so relaxing....

Love

Cass

Anyone find this interesting?

Probably not, but I'm going with it.

The season I decided to be out of the country away from college Football is the year Texas decides to be completely disgusting and bring down the tradition of Texas football. I understand that many of you back home are upset and I agree, but I really do that I have a link with the Texas program. They knew this season would not exist for me so they just decided to not waste the effort and wait for next year. I think that is the approach everyone should take, its helping me through the hard dark times.

But there is also a down side to this (besides Texas breaking my heart) I haven't seen any of the teams play. Auburn and Oregon in the National Championship, is this Auburn kid legit? Who is he? Oregon I can respect that. So I am a little disappointed that I am gonna come back and have NO IDEA who anyone is in these games. But it will be so nice to watch real football.

Okay I have ranted enough about college football.

Didn't get a chance to blog about Madrid this weekend, but I will soon.

So summary: Texas only decided to play like champs aka TERRIBLY this season because I was not there and so the season wasn't going to exist. (Just go with it) Bowls will be weird to watch having no knowledge of anyone.

Good news is Texas Basketball has started, a loss to Pitt and USC. Pitt okay I accept, USC fine i guess but not really. Shape up! Also I need to find a new man on the team because I think I may finally be over AJ and Sexy Dexy was just a friend, I had known him for so long and was tight because of AJ. Dogus is taken by Lindsay. So who is it going to be...I did like Jordan but he had that attitude last year, but it sounds like maybe he has grown up. I need to see Cory and Tristan when I'm in Austin. I know they can play, but obviously there is other considerations.

Horns up, at least for basketball.

Love

Cass

Sometimes Technology, Sometimes...

So I have written for Rome, but I can't upload pictures.

I can't post the writing without pictures or y'all will want to kill me because there are too many words. Plus if I don't post pictures Paige and Lindsay will yell at me again. By the way, Paige is done with here program and is actually stuck at the Munich airport right now for the night. Poor girl. Plus everything is closed so she can't even get a good German beer to tie her over.

Anyway. The internet as been really mean the past couple days, so as soon as it decides it wants to upload my pictures I will post on Rome. The Spanish posts will hopefully come soon too.

I have a few papers due next week that need A LOT of attention. So between celebrating my half birthday (celebrating because my friends Kayla and Colleen had their real birthdays while we were here, we decided to celebrate my half birthday to be fair) and writing papers I will blog on Spain.

Hope all is well. And yes this post has no pictures. Sorry, you are just gonna have to deal.

Love

Cass

Rome, We Meet Again

Well I write a post saying bad things about the internet and then it decides to work! Wish it always worked like that.

So the adventure began Thursday morning at 7:45am, but actually I got up at 4:45 to have a goodbye breakfast with Kayla and Nathan before they left to go North. After eating with them and saying good bye I went back to bed for a little over an hour.

We had to drive to Basel, which is about an hour, to fly out of there. There were 30 of us on the South trip and then the other 20 students in the program went north to Latvia, Sweden and London.

The flight wasn't bad, I feel asleep. What's new.

When we got to Rome is was raining, fantastic way to start off. Everyone's bags were wet at baggage claim. But I couldn't find mine. My bag and another kid's bag were nowhere to be found. I wasn't freaking out, but the other guy was...wouldn't be a big deal if it didn't make it. It would suck but recoverable. I walked to go see if I could find the desk to see if my bag actually made it. But couldn't find it. As I walked back to the group out of the corner of my eye I saw my bag two claims away. Along with the other guy's. I went back to the group with our two bags, and you would think I just created world peace. Needless to say he owes me a drink.

We had to take the train from the airport into Termini(main train station) where our hotel was near. We were all wet and not very happy. But everyone got their rooms assigned but I stayed out of the way just to be last ones because there were so many of us and no real lobby. So everyone had their rooms and we didn't have a key yet. I was rooming with Mina, LindsEy, and Margot. I asked our leader where our room was, he told me to wait. So I did, then asked the hotel lady. Her response, "Give me a minute and I'll take you to the apartment." Excuse me?

So four girls ended up two places down from the hotel in an apartment with two bedrooms, living room with dining table, and bathroom. There were locked doors, one probably being the kitchen. It was a very interesting stay. We went from everything being creepy to weird to creepy to weird. There was a weird stain in the bathroom that looked like blood. But we later realized it was rust from the hot water heater. The shower head would not stay in the holder so taking a shower was fun!

Anyway, we had about 20 minutes to get food and then meet to go to our first meeting. Our meeting was at the IES Rome center with a professor. The IES Rome center is across the river from the Castel Sant'Angelo. AMAZING LOCATION. I love having meetings/presentations from IES professors because they know how to lecture to Americans and are much more engaging.

After that some of us went back to the hotel and ended up finding a restaurant online that was near the hotel that was supposed to be good. IT WAS DELICIOUS! It was small in a basement. You knocked and then they opened the window and asked how many people you had. It was so cool.

So when we were getting to ready to go to bed it was just me, Mina and Lindsey. We were all slightly freaked about the place, so we all got into the big bed one of the rooms had. We were like a bunch of 12 year old girls giggling and scared. Margot came home a little after we laid down. As our childish ways continued, I got up and told Lindsey and Mina to come with me to open the door for Margot. Margot was greeted by CRAZY 21 year olds and a 19 year old(baby Mina)! So the night resulted in 4 of us piling into a bed about the size of a King. Yes we are all in college and adults.... :) But it was crowded and someone started to snore(cough Lindsey) so Margot and I went to the other room and fell a sleep in there. May have been a weird creepy apartment but it made the experience.

The next morning, Friday, we had a meeting at the Italian Department of European Policies. Meeting not so good. I'm just gonna leave it at that. Boring, hot, unorganized, so very Italian.

We had some free time, but not much because we needed to go back and change out of business formal into casual clothes and then get food and then meet for our last meeting about migration. This one was more interesting, but not completely.

After that Mina, Lindsey, Kelli, Sean and I broke from the group and decided to explore some on our own. We walked towards the "Wedding Cake" and the Mercati Traianei (Trajan's Market). We took our first gelato stop. Strawberry and straight up Nutella. Grazie Roma! We then went into the Mercati and the Museum attached to it. I was glad to do this because I hadn't done this when I was in Rome last summer. I still can't get over how old all the ruins are.

Victor Emanuele II Monument aka The Wedding Cake

Wedding Cake and Ruins from Trajan's Market. The view was so cool at night. Everybody LOVED it!

Trajan's Market

I really enjoyed this trip because every group we were in we were able to gather everyone's knowledge about every place we went to. We were able to joke with each other and have fun, but also have intellectual conversations. Love that.

We then made our way up to the Trevi Fountain because LindsAy told me about a restaurant around there that she loved when she was in Rome this past summer. It actually turned out the LindsEy had been there when she was traveling with a friend before the program. It was delicious. We called it night and headed back to our creepy, weird apartment.

Me throwing coin into Trevi Fountain. Worked once, its gotta work again.

Um, I'm with them. (Mina, Kelli, Sean and Lindsey)

Saturday we had a completely free day. We decided to start at the Vatican Museum and check off the Sistine Chapel. We stood outside for about an hour maybe, in the rain. Rome definitely paid me back for not having much rain when I was there last summer, because we got a lot when we were there.

BEST SIGHT-SEEING GROUP!!! Lindsey, Alex, Kelli, Sean, Margot (aka ORANGE), Me and Mina.

The Chapel was one of those moments were we all gathered and tried to remember everything we have ever learned and shared. That is a very memorable experience.

After that we went to St. Peter's Square to go into the Basilica. There was a long line, but nothing happening. There were a lot of official looking people coming out of the Basilica. I went to the front of one of the lines and asked if they were letting people in today. The guy told me he didn't know... Well thanks. It turns out they had the ceremony for new cardinals.

Very different trip than last time. I was wet, but not from dripping in sweat. Sorry for the lovely mental picture.

So we got something to eat and headed to the Castel Sant'Angelo. I didn't go into this either when I was in Rome last, so it was a place I definitely wanted to hit. It was pretty cool. While we were in there the sun came out. It was beautiful from atop the Castel.

Here comes the SUN!

Me, Rome, the Sun and the Vatican

Castel Sant'Angelo

After that we headed to the Colosseum. Well we got there 30 min too late. GREAT. Couldn't see the Vatican or the Colosseum.

So incredible.

But we decided to go back to the Vatican and see if we could get in yet and if not just take more pictures. We got there and they were letting people in!! So we were able to go in. That place is so incredible. Over the top yes, but WOW. One of the new cardinals was giving blessings. I was apart of a group blessing. Another amazing moment.

Also, each time we were near the Vatican we got Old Bridge Gelato of course. BEST GELATO EVER!!!! FANTASTIC!!! I will be staying near there next time I go to Rome.

We then went back to the Trevi Fountain and the same restaurant from the night before. It was good so why not go back. They have like 50 different pastas, so you can always get something new. But I didn't.... :)

Sunday was our last day. We had most of the day to go sight seeing.

We started at the Colosseum. Still can't believe it is still there. I am convinced it is fake. There is just no way! Some people went to the Roman Forum, but Lindsey and I went up above the Colosseum to a park and hung out there for a while. We ended up watching this guy work out. It was so much better than it sounds. He had the most interesting/ridiculous stretches and work out "moves." ? I don't even know. I can only show it, no words can even come close to explaining it.

Its fake, I swear.

After that we went to San Giovanni Laterano, which is the official church of the Pope. It is very beautiful. Nothing compared to the Vatican, obviously.

We hit the Spanish Steps and the Pantheon quick and then rested at a restaurant. Then we headed back to the hotel to meet with the big group to go to the airport to go to Madrid.

Margot interrupting my photo shoot at the Spanish Steps. How New England of her.

This Rome experience was much different than the other summer. I never felt I lived in Rome, but I also didn't feel like a tourist. This time I was all tourist. Which was not the best experience. I also think coming from Germany was frustrating. It was much dirtier, but its a different culture and I have grown used to the "German way of life." The rain didn't help the situation. I ended up buying a bigger umbrella from the random people ripping you off. But I would not allow that. I turned on my attitude and was quite firm with the guy and got a "good" umbrella. I was able to situate it between my back and my backpack so it kept me and my bag dry while not needing to hold it. HONORS.

Still love Rome, but it is moving down my list of favorite places. Sorry Linz.

Sorry its so long, but we did a lot in Rome. We definitely knew our way around the metro.

Ciao Italia! Hola Espana!

PS Sorry for lack of pictures at the beginning. There just wasn't much to take pictures of that first night.