ROMA for 3 days!

   ROME IS SOOOO BUSY! It is a giant city and I think almost everyone has a car. They are allll really tiny. The smart car is average size in Rome! See picture below.  

 

   

   First, not all of Rome looks like the Colosseum or the Roman Forums. The space between the airport and the city center, where I stayed for the 3 days, is a giant crap whole. There is trash everywhere and there are 5 story 80s style building everywhere. This is a major city so I guess this is to be expected. I guess I was thinking it was all going to be like what you see in movies. But what I didnt expect was that they drive on the same side of the as we do! 

   But when we got to the hotel which looks like this... 

   and which, by the way, costs 330euro per night (it was 3 blocks from the Colosseum)... I had been up for at least 24 hours.... I was tired. But they suggested that we not sleep so I didnt. I was up for a total of 32 hours straight. My first experience of Rome was lunch. Natalie, a friend, and I went down to a place next to the hotel and ended up spending 35 euro on lunch! It was soooo expensive. He offered us coke or wine. I chose coke which was a bad choice. It was a tiny can for 4,50euro!!!!! That is about $6! I havent bought a coke since. 

   Later that night was a better experience. We went to the Trevi fountain and ate at this super cute Italian tavern (picture below) with frescoes on the ceilings. But we couldnt get tap water. It was mineral water or wine. 

    The next day we walked around and saw the entire city. The Colosseum, Roman Forum, many famous piazzas and lots of other stuff. Our tour guide was Swedish. (picture below) She was very funny and it was all very cool. But it just wasnt as awesome as I expected. However, I do appreciate being able to be here and all the history that is in these monuments. The best part of that day was the Colosseum, Trasterve (a little town on the other side of the Tevere (Tiber) river), and the pub we went to that night. There were just sooo many people there all the time. It was a loud city and crazy crazy crazy traffic. I hate crowds and cars so you can see what I feel this way. :) 

   It was neat thinking about how long these brick structures have set in the exact same place for so long. While in the Colosseum I touched the wall and wondered how many other people had touched it and why. Maybe they were just visiting like me, or maybe they went to watch one of the games, or just maybe the emperor had touched the very same brick...

   Trastevere was exactly what you think Italian life is about in the city. There were flowers in the piazza, and no one got in a hurry to do anything. It was beautiful. The cafe where we ate was picturesque. 

  

    The third day was the best of all. We visited Vatican City. The most amazing place I have been so far! I was so excited to see the Sistine chapel and hyped myself up all night and was actually sadly disappointed. I thought that it would be bigger and take my breath away. I didnt know much about the room in which it was painted but from what I gather the room was suitable size for its purpose. There are no pictures because this was the only part in the museum that there were no cameras aloud. We had to speak in a whisper and there was no running. But to be in the same place that Michelangelo once stood on the EXACT same floor was actually really cool. 

   My favorite part of that day BY FAR was St. Peter's Church. I went into the day thinking all about the Sistine Chapel and was very surprised and humbled by the enormity of the church. I can not describe in words how large this church was. I literally cant even try. If you ever have the chance to visit Italy St. Peter's MUST be on the list. It is the one thing from Rome that I truly enjoyed and will never ever ever ever ever forget. This is one of the many pictures I took, which sadly does this church no justice what so ever. It is pitiful the way it looks here.

                      The walls had to be at least 200 feet high. Here is another one. I cant just show one. 

                                                      Those doors were at least 50 feet tall.

Overall, if I had the choice to ever go back to Rome by myself I would visit the church and get the heck out of dodge. But if you ever need a personal tour guide, I'll go then too!

The horrible goodbye and My super not so awesome flight to Rome.

Well I have just now found time to write! So here it is. I guess I shall post just like I would if it had just happened. Here I go!

   The goodbye was horrible. The worst ever. I'm not sure the TSA officer could recognize me from my license because I was crying so much. I didnt go through the checkpoint until the last minute... Literally like 15 minutes before my flight left. I just did not want to go. But there were a bagillion people there to see me off but still... it was bad. I'm pretty sure I was crying until we landed. Some lady asked me if I was ok. That was sweet of her.

   I just got off the plane waiting for my ride at the airport in ROME. I figured we would just leave off the coast of Georgia but I guess we are doing a curve. The plane was not as big as I thought it would be. Only 7 seats across with 2 isles. Its old too, maybe an early 80s model. But I did have a wonderful little TV that told me the altitude and outside temp and things like that. At our highest we were at 35,000 feet and it was -88 degrees! That was really weird to think about. If I fell out would I freeze before I hit the ground.. I bet I would.
   I have had a massive headache alllll day. Flying is not so fun. Especially if you dont really want to be there at that moment. But the actual flight was ok. There was a bit of turbulance but I cant complain too much because I had a window seat, no one beside me, a good dinner, and a sight of the Italian coast at dawn. It was beautiful. I noticed that first class is really nice and if I wanted to pay an extra 3000 I would have. There was free soft drink, beer, wine, blankets, pillow, and movies but the drinks came out of a box and were horrible. BUT first class got nice and fluffy stuff with 8 different kinds of wine out of bottles. They were already passing out champagne when everyone else was boarding!
   I didnt sleep but like 30 minutes on the flight. At one point I went to sleep and woke up because it felt like the plane had dropped 100 feet in the air. The map showed we were 200 miles off the coast of Nova Scotia - completely over water. Needless to say, there was no more sleeping.

 Dinner was good... Chicken with rice and a salad! See picture below.

   

 The excitement still hasn't hit me yet. Hopefully it will soon!

I leave TOMORROW at 10:57!

The excitement has not hit me yet. :/

I'm all packed. Mick was a lovely helper. "No, dont put that there" "Why dont you shove that in this pocket!" He meant well.

The girl that will also be going with me, Maddy Pulley, called me from D.C. and said she packed two huge bags with two carry ons. I only packed one of each. Hopefully I wont be under dressed. But the good news is I FIT MY RAIN BOOTS INTO MY LUGGAGE. I bought those stupid things just for this trip and refused not to take them. Mick said I wouldnt need them but I politely reminded him that I wasnt leaving without them and he found a spot to put them! Gotta love that kid! We are going to see how long it takes for me to use the rain boots. I should bet him.

Tomorrow will be bittersweet. I am really dreading it. I know that I should be super excited to be living in Florence for 4 months but right now all I can think about is leaving my family. Especially my mom and Mick. I have decided not to apply make up tomorrow until after I have calmed down. It would just be a giant mess.

BUT, last night my mom threw me an awesome going away party. It was soo sweet. She decorated the house and she also put up decorations just for the party. Red, green and white streamers and words in Italian and cooked an excellent meal filled with my favorite foods. Minus ribs. Im not sure she has ever mad ribs. MOM, will you make those when I come back?!?!?!?!?

My mom will never know how much that meant to me. She is a great mother. I am going to miss her like crazy. I hope that she can surprise me with a visit to Florence.

Also in attendance last night was my lovely brother and his family, my aunt and uncle, and last but not least my bestie, Lauren. I wish EVERYONE could come visit me. Maybe when I win the lottery. That would be awesome. Just know that if I had the money to get you over here I would. That is a promise.

I'm getting nervous. Dreading tomorrow. I love and miss everyone.

Italia here I come...

1 bag... Are you kidding me?

Uh. I am starting to get super stressed. No bueno.

I have gathered all my clothes... 5 pair jeans, 9 cardigans, 23 shirts, 3 dresses.... the rest is history. It's a mess. I leave in exactly one week... geez. I'm excited but scared scared scared scared.

I'm going to miss everyone. But I shall be having a grand time in Italy! I will post pictures mostly on facebook but I will put exceptional ones on here. There will most likely be horrible internet so if you decide to skype me be patient. I am ordering a web cam tonight!!!

Miss me!

prep time.

10 days. This is no joke. 10 days. 10 days.

How do they expect me to pack only one bag? I probably should considering I will be living on the 4th floor with no elevator.

For those of you that don't know, I will be leaving for Italy in...oh what is it?.... 10 DAYS. I will be there for about 5 months. It shall be amazing. Kinda scared. Who wouldn't be, right? This is kind of like a foreign exchange without the exchanging. I'm taking classes like I normally would I will merely be in FLORENCE, ITALY. - which by the way, "they" say should never be translated from Italian. Meaning I already suck at blending in.

The only way I can be reached while in Italia will be through skype. My Skype name is shandiebeckwith. It's free. Download it here. You'll need a webcam if you want to see me.

Here is the best pic I can find of my future home. 

Today I was accused of prematurely sending my brain to Italy... maybe it's true. One can only hope. ;)