Roma! Florence! Venice! Home!

Part 1 - Roma
Wednesday, December 9 was our final day at Harlaxton. We had our British Studies final at 9:30 in the morning and then we were done!! It was so nice to be done with the semester, but being done with the semester meant that I had to leave all my new friends. Even though I knew I was going to see them in Italy, it was really hard to say goodbye. We left to fly to Roma at 10:30 the next morning, and I fell asleep before we even took off! Our hotel wasn’t the best. We had four people in our room, and there was very little walking space, and there was never any hot water, which doesn’t help.

The first night we decided to just walk around, and we saw this huge building, but we didn’t know what building. We later realized that if we would have turned left, the Coliseum was right there. That Friday, we went to Vatican City, which I didn’t think I would like too much, but I ended up liking it a lot! While there, we went to St. Peters Basilica, which was beautiful. Then, we went to Vatican Museum, which features the Sistine Chapel. I loved it there so much! If my camera had not have died, I would have taken pictures…even though you weren’t suppose to. After that, it was off to the Spanish steps. There were also men there that would come up to you and give you a rose, and you would ask if it was free, and he would say yes, then turn around and come back and ask for money. We gave him back his roses! Next, we continued on to the Trevi Fountain, which was beautiful…and I threw a coin in there to hopefully bring me good luck. After that we went to the Pantheon, a beautiful church with a hole in the top.

Even though it was still pretty early, we decided that we would go back to the hotel and rest a little bit, and then go back out a see the Trevi fountain at night time. I didn’t think I was going to go, but I ended up going and had fun. On our way back we decided to get gelato. We walked into a random shop that sold gelato and while my friend and I were trying to decide what flavor to get, this guy who worked there walked up to us, and tried to talk to me in Italian, but I didn’t understand. So he said something to the person behind the counter and that person handed him a sample of gelato. The guy went to hand it to me, so when I went to reach for it…he said no…open your mouth. I said “what?” and he said “open your mouth; I’ll feed it to you.” He wouldn’t let me take it with my hand…so I finally just opened my mouth and he fed it to me. He also fed my friend some gelato. That was the first and last guy to feed us gelato!

The next day we went to the Coliseum, and as soon as we got off the metro it was right there. Not only was it right there; there was also many people! When we bought our tickets not only did it get us into the Coliseum, but it got us into Palatine Hill, and Imperial Forum. So we went to see all three, and they were all so beautiful. I loved the Forums the best, and they went on forever it seemed.

Part 2 - Florence
The next stop of our trip was Florence. We were all excited to meet up with the other group, they had also been there for an extra day then us to, so unfortunately we only had one full day to spend with the other group. While there, a few of my friends from the other trip and I went to Pisa to see the leaning tower. We had a great time, though we didn’t go up in it because it cost a small fortune. The next day, we went to The Academy to see the real “David” by Michelangelo. Then, we went to the Duomo, a church that was HUGE and really close to our hotel. We also went to Uffizi and saw all the renaissance art. The last stop was a gigantic bridge with tons of shops on it.

Part 3 - Venice
In Venice, we only had one full day to explore. We used our day to take a boat to the island of Murano. If you didn't know, by boat is the only way you could travel in Venice, because there wasn’t enough room for roads to be built, and it is basically sinking into the water. When we went to Murano, there was a high tide so we couldn’t go out of the port. The water came up over the sidewalks and would go into buildings. We decided to walk to another port and was able to watch glass blowers.

Part 4 - The Return Home
The next day, we left for London. We had to check out of our hotel at 9:30 a.m. even though our flight wasn’t supposed to leave until 7 p.m. With no place to go, and limited funds, many of us went to the only McDonalds in Venice. I spent about 4 hours there. When we left for the airport, we found out that our flight was delayed by 45 minutes then it was pushed back to an hour then back to two hours, because of snow in London…which believe me wasn’t very much! People from the other group were suppose to meet us in Heathrow in terminal 1, but they ended up stuck in terminal 5 and the only way you can get between the terminals is by the tube, and it had already stopped running by the time they got in, so we had to wait till 5 a.m.

When we finally met up with our friends, we had already heard that some others flights have been cancelled. I was hoping that my fight wouldn’t get canceled. So we get there and next to our flight it said inquire airline…later we found out while trying to check in that our flight was cancelled. There was a huge snow storm that was going to hit JFK, so Delta cancelled all their fights there. I was hoping to get on a flight the next day, but they said that they didn’t know if any were leaving for JFK, and all the flights to the states were already booked. So Delta put me in a hotel! I was glad to have Nicole with me, so we didn’t have to go through this alone.

We found out at dinner that we wouldn’t be booked for the next day either, but Nicole and I did get booked for a flight on Monday, December 21st from Heathrow to Atlanta then Atlanta to Kansas City, which we were even lucky to be booked on that flight, and we were able to fly business class which was awesome! I was so happy to finally land in Atlanta. I was back in the US!

When I finally returned home, my mom and friend were there waiting for me and it’s so nice to see them, and to be somewhat back home (I still had a two hour drive home). With the trip nearly at an end, I tripped on my suitcase walking to the car and hit my head on the road pretty hard. I ended up being okay though with the mark on my forehead and nose to show that I’m not the most graceful person. It was so nice to be home, and sleeping in my own bed. It took a couple days adjusting to the time difference, I found myself waking up really early.

With it all over, I’m really happy to be home, and I’m super excited to get back to Bethany and to see all my friends. I’m really glad that I did this, and that I had this opportunity. Because of this, I am changed for the better. I realized a lot about myself and am grateful for the opportunity!