When in Rome, Go Out With a Bang

I have been so busy in Rome that I have no time to do anything. And when I say busy I mean I'm busy going out and having fun :-)

Two weeks ago, meaning the weekend after Paris (July 27-30th) nothing to exciting happened. We got back from Paris on Sunday night and just hung out and uploaded our facebook pictures. Monday night we went out to Campo de Fiori, as usual, and just had a good time. Tuesday we had class, and went out again Tuesday night. We realized that we only had two weeks left in Rome and we were gonna take advantage of every single night. Tuesday night we decided to get all dressed up, go to Campo for a few drinks, and then go to a club. We wound up meeting these guys from California and stayed in Campo to hang out with them the rest of the night so we never wound up going to the club. Wednesday I saw the Spanish steps and went shopping with Vanessa, Crystal, Brittany, Ashley, and Hillary (unsuccessfuly, I did not buy anything) and then went back to our apartment to nap. We went out again Wednesday night and had such a good time! All of JCU was out! We went to Drunken Ship and played a few games of beer pong and then went over to Giganti, of course, our favorite bar. You know you go to a bar too much when the bartenders know you by name haha.

Thursday I did not want to get up. I was so tired from the night before! But I had to go to class. Thursday around 6:30 we left for the train station to go to Interlaken, Switzerland. I took that opportunity to pass out! We were on an overnight train and we weren't getting to Switzerland until 6:00am.

Switzerland was beautiful! It was cool, the skies were blue and the mountains in the background of Interlaken were breathtaking. We got off the train and took a cab to our hostel, Balmer's Herberge. Interlaken is a really teeny town where everyone knows each other. The whole city is like two streets big and the biggest club in the town was in our hostel.

Our hostel is actually, I think, one of the top ten hostels in Europe. It was a lot of fun staying there...we met so many people!

Since we were staying in a dorm (six beds) we could not get into our room until 4:00pm because they clean the rooms from 10:30am-4:00pm. We got there at 7am and we were all exhausted so we plopped down on the couch, and fell alseep. Brittany, Olivia, and I were all on top of each other sleeping...people walked by us and gave us really weird looks. We probably looked really funny. We scheduled canyoning for 1:30pm so we put all of our stuff in the luggage room and changed into our bathingsuits. I don't have any pictures from canyoning because they cost 38 euro and they only gave you the pictures of you, if you wanted pictures of you and your friends you would have to buy two packages. We were not about to do that. But nonetheless, it was a lot of fun. They gave us wet suits and boots and took us jumping and swimming through waterfalls. It was a great time! The water was freezing but we did not really notice it because the wet suits were so thick!

By the time canyoning was over we were able to get into our room at the hostel. Olivia and I fell alseep for about 20 minutes while Brittany and Rebecca showered and then we switched. The girls and I walked over to a chocolate shop that does a chocolate show. They had these extravagant pieces of chocolate...it was incredible. We got free samples and even bought some! Then we got fondu for dinner. The chocolate fondu had peanuts in it so I couldn't eat it but thats ok, after all the carbs I have been eating in Rome I didn't really need the chocolate.

The hostel had Happy Hour where the drinks were buy one get one free. We had a great time and met some boys from Florida who we spent the whole night dancing with. It turns out that Olivia was studying in Florence with the sister of one of the guys...small world!

Saturday we got lunch at Hooters (yes, there was a Hooters in Interlaken) before going sky diving!

The sky diving van picked us up at 1:00 and took us to the hanger. We got all suited up and they gave us a crash course on how to fall out of a plane. They could only take up a few people at at time so I didn't wind up going up until about 3:00. Olivia and Rebecca went together and Brittany and I went together. We met two guys who there who were staying at our hostel. One of them had jumped about 30 times and was licensed to do it on his own and the other was going for his first time. They wound up being really cool and when we got back to the hostel we all went to grab dinner together.

Anyway, sky diving was unreal! I was more excited than anything! Brittany and I couldn't wait...the anticipation as we were going up in the plane was killing us! Brittany went out first and I went last so when she just dropped out of the plane I started freaking out! But I was still excited. Finally it was my turn and the guy that I was attached to started inching our way to the edge of the door, I looked down and thought to myself "I cannot believe I am about to jump out of a plane!"

The rush as you are free-falling from 12,000 feet in the sky was unreal! I don't know why anyone would ever do drugs because it is just a high. 45 seconds of free-falling with the wind rushing past your face...you cant help but to love every second. I must say I screamed the whole 45 seconds but it was more of a scream of excitement that of being scared. Finally, it was time to pull the parachute and then it literally feels liek you're flying. With the parachute open we just coasted along floating in the sky over the swiss alps. The guy I jumped with looked at me and said "welcome to my office" as we were floating. It was pretty cool. They let me take my camera with me and as we were just chillin' in the sky I was able to take it out to take some pictures. We safely landed on the ground and the girls and I started jumping up and down because...WE WENT SKY DIVING OVER THE SWISS ALSP!!!!

That day was Unification day, which is like their 4th of July. We all bought Swiss Flag shirts from the hostel and wore them all day long. Hooters, along with the entire town, were decorated in swiss decorations. All the red and white were almost giving me a headache. The guys we went sky diving with came to get dinner with us at hooters and we had a great time with them. They wound up being really, really funny! Balmer's does this huge group picture of everyone stayin in the hostel every year on unification day and put it up in the hostel, as well as send everyone a copy of the picture for free. This was an opportunity I did NOT want to miss out on so two of the guys, Jeff and Chris, and I left money to pay for dinner and went back to the hostel so that we wouldn't miss the picture. I am really glad I did that...I left my mark in Switzerland :-)

When the rest of the group came back to the hostel we got drinks and hung out until 10:30 when they did fireworks in honor of Unification day. The display was beautiful-the prettiest fireworks I have ever seen. Of course after enjoying fireworks in the park there was only one thing left to do...PARTY!

We went to the club in the basement of Balmers...which is basically the only club in the entire town. There were a ton of people in this small room so it was a million degrees in there! It was like a sweat box. Olivia and I were exhausted and told the guys that we were only going to stay out for a few hours and the next thing we know its 2am! Time really does fly when you're having fun.

The next day it was rainy so it's a really good thing we didn't plan sky diving for that day. Everyone was kind of in a crappy mood because were tired and the weather was sucky. We got on the train and just passed out. Finally back in Rome we spent Sunday night uploading our pictures and trading stories from the weekend with the other girls.

Monday was one of the greatest days ever! Nothing exciting happened during the day but Monday night we had a JCU Bar Crawl. There is a company that does a bar crawl in Rome (actually I think they do them all over Europe) and they start from different places. They're named by where they start so the one that starts at the Spanish Steps is the Spanish Steps Bar Crawl and the one that starts at the Colosseum is the Colosseum Bar Crawl. All of JCU decided that Monday night we were all going on the Spanish Steps Bar Crawl. It was so much fun! I didn't really drink that much even though it was a bar crawl. We had an open bar at the first pub, went to 2 or 3 other bars, and then ended at a club. My friends and I had a blast and we met some other people. Olivia and I mostly hung out with the staff though...we're cool like that haha. One of the staff members, James, gave us a flyer for the bar crawl our first night out in Rome and remembered us when we got to the meeting place on Monday. Another one of the staff members just graduated from Princeton and knows someone that I know frome home. Olivia, Kelsey, and I didn't go home until like 3 am and we were not excited to get up for class in the morning but, you gotta do what you gotta do. I immediately came home and took a nap after class.

Tuesday night we had a more chill night. We went down to the Tiber River and hung out there. At the Tiber, under the bridge, theres always night life with restaurants, hookah bars, little shops, and clubs all up and down the river. Brittany, Kelsey, and I met up with Crystal and Vanessa at a hookah bar. We then walked around a little and went home. The three of us walked home and thought we saw this guy lingering behind us. It was pretty sketchy so we called Vanessa and Crystal (who had already gotten back to the apartment) to come outside and watch us walk in to make sure we were ok. Brittany had her pocket knife out the whole walk home and we kept looking back to make sure he knew that we knew he was there. It turned out to be fine.

The next morning Crystal, Vanessa, Kelsey, and I got up at 7am to go to the Vatican. The line to get into the museum was so long that we left! We decided to go late in the afternoon after finals on Friday and hopefully there wouldn't be as many people there.

After class on Wednesday Lindsey and I went to Sloppy Sam's to work on our Oral Report for Italian. Only in Rome would you go to a bar to do homework. But we got our work done and had some fun while doingit :-)

Wednesday night was another crazy night! The girls and I went to dinner at a Mexican Restaurant near the Vatican for dinner (no more pasta please!) and then met up with the boys at Campo de Fiori. I didn't drink, again, mostly because I wasn't feeling 110% and I didn't want to get sick. After Campo we went to a club called La Maisson. There were so many people there! The Spanish Steps Bar Crawl ended there that night (they do different bars and clubs every night) so I hung out with some of the staff. My friends and I danced the night away. All of a sudden it was 4 am and we realized we had to be up in 3 hours for class! We got a cab home and I passed out. Class on Thursday was not fun but I made it through. I woke up feeling like crap so my Italian teacher let me leave early to go home and go to sleep. Thursday night we spent all night studying for our exams on Friday.

Our last day in Rome...it was so sad! I could not believe it was over!!! The weirdest part was that I had been in another country long enough to create a life there: I had my group of friends, I knew where all the clubs and bars were, I knew how to get around, I knew how to use the bus and tram system. It had basically become my home. I forgot what it was like to not be there.

We had our Ancient Rome exam at 9am...we met in the lobby at 8:15 for our walk to campus-it was like walking to our death. We finally got through the exam-it wasn't THAT bad. After that exam though we all needed a drink. We got an early lunch at Friends Cafe around the corner and we all got memosas and toasted to the end of the class from hell. After that I had about an hour and a half to study for Italian. I really wasn't worried for that exam: I got A's on everything and I only needed a C to get a passing grade (the actual grade doesn't transfer, just the credit). I walked back to campus and hung out with some kids in my Italian class, took the test, and peaced out of there. Brittany and I went to the Vatican and met up with Kelsey at the Vatican Museum. Kelsey and I walked through it and saw the Sistine Chapel while Brittany shopped for her mom. After it was back to the apartment to finish packing.

Our apartment felt so empty! It was so sad! All the girls got ready for dinner and we had a "last supper" We went to a restaurant out by campus and since we were such a big group they sat us downstairs-it was like having a private party. We had such a great time drinking wine and having our last meal in Italy all together. Of course after dinner it was off to Campo...our stomping ground! Everyone was there! It was great to be able to be with everyone for our last night. We all danced and drank all night long. Around 1am some of the girls wanted to leave so I had to say bye to some of them. Olivia started crying which of course meant that I started crying. We looked absolutely ridiculous crying in the middle of the bar. After the girls left Crystal Vanessa and I went back to partying it up for our last night. Soon after, we left Giganti to go to Anima, so we said bye to all of our favorite bartenders and headed out.

Around 3:30am it was time to go home :( I had a cab coming at 5am to take me to the airport. Vanessa, Crystal, Kelsey and I went to Kelsey's apartment and woke up Olivia and Brittany (Brittany fell asleep in Kelsey's bed) to play one last time before we had to go.

At 4 Brittany and I went back to our apartment to finish our last minute packing before the cab came. Soon enough it was time to go :( If I hadn't been awake for 24 hours I probably would have been crying but I was just too tired for that.

I got to the airport, hugged Brittany good bye, and headed for my plane. I slept the entire flight from Rome to Madrid. Once I got off the plane in Madrid it started to become real that my study abroad program was actually over and all I could do was cry. I still cannot believe it went by so fast! I miss it so much and would do just about anything to re-live those past 6 weeks.

To all my JCU'ers: Thank you for an incredible Summer. You all are amazing and I hope you never change. I cannot wait to see you all again-be it Miami or Vegas :-)

An American Girl in Paris

This past weekend the girls and I went to Paris and had the time of our lives. Wednesday night through Thursday night we did not do anything because we had a midterm on Friday so a fun weekend in Paris was well-deserved.
We were all really freaking out about the midterm. It was supposed to be really really hard. We studied like crazy. I was not happy about giving up fun nights out in Rome to study for a midterm. When we got to the test we were all very nervous. It was not as bad as we thought but still pretty hard. The biggest complaint was that the test asked very, very specific questions on hundreds of centuries worth of information. That is really why it was so hard. Right after the midterm Brittany and I went to a cafe and got a cocktail...it was very much needed. Afterwards we came home, packed, and got ready for PARIS!!!
We took a 4 hour train from Rome to Milan and then got on a 7 hour train to Paris. We slept in a 6 person car and we were only 4 people so we had 2 randoms...that was quite an experience. It was me, Rebecca, Brittany, and Olivia.
We got to Paris at 930ish and immediately got in a cab to go to the hotel, check in, freshen up, and go to breakfast. We found this cute cafe a few blocks from our hotel and right across the street from the Luxembourg Gardens. We all ordered omlettes and cafe au lait. I haven't had eggs since I was back in the states and it was soooo nice to finally eat some healty food! The other girls (Hilary, Ashley, and Kelsey) all flew so after breakfast we met up with them back at the hotel and started our touristy day in Paris.
Paris was absolutely beautiful! and very clean. Plus, the people were so nice. To be honest, we were just so happy to be wearing jeans and not sweat our body weight out. The weather was gorgeous: about 70 degrees and just a tad bit overcast. The Luxembourg Gardens were magnificent. They had little ponds where people were playing with toy sailboats just like in the movies. There was a palace off to the side that we took lots of pictures in front of :-)
We only spent about an hour inside of The Gardens because when in Paris make sure you have tome for SHOPPING! On the way to the shopping area we stopped at the Notre Dame. It is overwhelmingly huge. I wanted to go inside but the line was extremely long so I settled for pictures from the outside.
We spent the whole rest of the day shopping. I think we went to probably 12 or 15 different stores and 7 or 8 shoe stores! It was exhausting! But luckily we found a Starbucks...there are not any in Rome so we were pretty excited.
After running around Paris for hours we headed back to the hotel for showers. Brittany and I bought a bottle of wine and after everyone was ready we all met in one hotel room, popped it open, and drank to a great night in Paris. Then it was off to the eiffel tower. Most of us wore high heels because we can't wear them in Rome (the cobble roads are not really the greatest for high heels) and we were very excited! We got all pretty for pictures at the eiffel tower. We took the metro over, followed signs pointing towards the tower and when we least expected it, there it was right around the corner. Every single one of us all at the same time just said "oh my god it is beautiful!" and the cameras started going. We took ssooo many pictures! each step we took to get closer and closer more and more pictures were taken. Olivia and I were really the only ones interested in going to the top so the rest of the girls went to eat dinner while Olivia and I got on line. There were these kids in front of us (around the age of about 16, 17, 18) and the guys in line were talking about Olivia and I, it was extremely obvious. We ignored it and laughed about it later but at the top, we asked a random guy to take a picture of us and he turns out to be the trip coordinator of the little teen tour these kids were on. This guy was about 25 and Olivia and I spent the entire time at the top talking to him-he was pretty cool. We laughed about the kids he is in charge of. Some of the girls started giggling as we walked by them and all of the boys were like "oh my god! he is with those girls from the line!" It was extremely entertaining for Olivia and I. We were cracking up. It was a really good time.
When we got back down to the bottom we met up with the girls and some of our guy friends who were also in Paris that weekend. We went to some pubs and bars around our hotel and just had a really great time. Us girls ordered some really girly, fruity drinks and made the boys get girly drinks too-the pictures are pretty funny. Around 2am we went into a grocery store and bought just about everything in there. Olivia and I bought crepe bread, bananas, and nutella to make crepes....that did not wind up happening. We got back to the hotel and passed out.
Sunday morning we got up and went back to our breakfast place to get more omlettes :-) After breakfast we started our trek to the Louvre. We were all prepared to wait online for hours to get in but there was no line, we walked right in and, the best part, our tickets were FREE because we are students in Europe. We spent about 2 hours in the Louvre looking at all the famous art. We wanted to stay for longer but after 2 hours we were all ready for some food! We got the most expensive sandwiches, water, salads, and crepes of all time! The water alone was 4 euro....seriously, the most expensive meal ever! But I definitely got nutella all over my mouth from the crepe...totally worth it.
We wanted to walk over the Arch de Triumph from the Louvre but all the streets were blocked off for the Tour de France. Oh yea, I forgot to menion that the Tour de France was there that weekend. It was very cool to see that. Paris was really busy with all the tourists and there were a ton of events going on all weekend. Afterwards we did a little more shopping: I bought 2 cute Parisian paintings (2 euro) to put up in my room at school. On the way back to the hotel we stopped at a bakery to get stuff to bring back to Rome. We bought 2 baguettes which Olivia and I used to get into a sword fight with...it was a lot of fun.
Once we finally got back to the hotel I literally passed out on Ashley's bed. I was out cold for a good 30 minutes before dinner. We were all pretty full from snacking on yummy french foods throughout the day so we just got french onion soup at a cafe down the street. It was the best french onion soup I have ever had in my life! And in France they just call it onion soup, not french onion soup.
At 8:30 it was back on the train :-( This time we shared our sleeping car wtih 2 old men who smelled really bad. I slept cuddling with my backpack because I was terrified of getting it stolen. I actually slept really well on the train: when the conductor knocked on our door to give us our passports back I did not move a muscle, I didn't even hear him knock. Olivia had to get down from her bed and wake me up. We got off the train and then got our train from Milan to Rome. I passed out ontop of Brittany in that train...we had snuggle-bonding time.
Finally back to Rome, we caught a cab to our apartment and complained the whole way about how unbearably hot it is in this city. I cleaned up the kitchen, which was a mess when we got back, made myself some risotto for lunch, and started my outline for a paper. The rest of the day was pretty boring: we made chicken, spinach dip, and potatoes for dinner.
A bunch of the girls and I went out and had such a good time until we got home....we were sitting on a ledge right outside of our apartment and some guy ran by us and grabbed Olivia's perse with her credit cards, cash, camera, phone, keys, and social security card in it! It was such a mess!! I stayed up with her until 5am calling the police, the embassy, and our school to get it all fixed. I barely slept and then had to get up at 730 am for class. It was a really really long day! I came home and passed out for 2 hours straight.
Tonight Brittany made baked ziti for us for dinner: it was DELICIOUS! After dinner the plan is to go to a club (maybe) and have a great time.
We are all just excited to go to Switzerland this weekend :-)