Catalonian Culture

April 23, 2013-

A famous day in Catalonian culture: El dia de Sant Jordi.

Sort of like Valentines Day, the story goes like this:

"Once upon a time, a terrible dragon terrorized the inhabitants of a small village in Catalonia called Montblanc. The dragon wrecked havoc among the population and devoured the animals put out to pasture until there were none left. To calm the dragon's anger, the inhabitants of the village decided to sacrifice one person every day, chosen by drawing lots, and to offer that person to the dragon as a sign of their good will. However, one, dark day, the person chosen to be sacrificed was the king's daughter: the princess. Just when she was about to be swallowed up by the dragon, a courageous knight appeared and confronted the evil beast. This was Saint George (Sant Jordi in Catalan). He thrust his lance into the dragon and, out of the blood that spurted forth, there grew a red rose bush. Since then, it has been the custom in Catalonia to present a rose to your loved one. Saint George, the patron saint of Catalonia, became the symbol of Catalonia during the Renaixença, a nineteenth century political and cultural movement that sought to reclaim the symbols of Catalan identity."

On Sant Jordi's day the men in Barcelona and Catalunya give their sweetheart a red rose, and in recent years a new Sant Jordi tradition is that the ladies give the men a book. The book giving is a way to commemorate the nearly simultaneous deaths of two famous authors: Miguel Cervantes and William Shakespere on 23 April 1616. Anyone can give anyone a book, however, only a man can give a woman a rose.

Really, on this day there are three things celebrated: the Sant Jordi victory, the death of the two authors, and Catalunya's push for independence. 

In the first half of our 3 hour language class our teacher told us to walk around in groups and ask people, in Spanish, what the day was about. She gave us a list of questions to help us. Some of the questions included: what they were celebrating on Sant Jordi, why the women give me roses, the history of Sant Jordi, etc. It was interesting because we had known nothing about the day of Sant Jordi and this was the perfect way to learn about it. Not to mention it being a beautiful day and then sun was shining.

The streets were filled with rose stands with the Catalan flags hanging around the tables and tables upon tables of books. The lines to get a book were very long, apparently el dia de Sant Jordi is the cheapest day to buy a book in general.

The prices of the roses varied depending on where you were in the city. There were many different colored roses to buy and some even multicolored.There was a huge festival on Las Ramblas celebrating the day with massive amounts of people, book tables and rose tables.

Hung from one of the buildings in Plaza Catalunya (the main plaza) a huge banner read: "Catalunya: Europe's newest country."

The thing I like most about this day is that it is celebrated in "the streets" so to speak. Lovers meet up at lunch time and exchange their roses and books. They hang out, have a picnic and spend time together outside all day.

The children in the schools typically have a poetry contest where they write poems, read them in front of the class, and then choose a winner. They too exchange roses, the boys bring both a book and a rose and give it to one of the girls in their class. Apparently (according to my Spanish teacher) all the girls wear shorts and tank tops to try to impress the boys, rain or shine :)
A day I will never forget filled with Catalonian culture and Spanish love.

Norway I Shall Return

April 22, 2013-

Unfortunately my time in Norway had to come to an end.

Today I got up at 6 to catch the bus back to Oslo at 6:30, but before I left I had to eat pancakes and our Norwegian breakfast one last time.

After breakfast I got on the bus back to Oslo and then from Oslo to Rygge to catch my flight.

I was sad to be leaving, I had such a great time, but I know that I will be back one day!

I Never Want to Leave

April 21, 2013-

Another great day of sunshine and semi-warm weather. This morning for breakfast we made strawberry and banana smoothies, something I've missed since I've been in Barcelona because we don't have a blender.

Maren made American pancakes (I've missed those too) and we had our typical Norwegian bread and cheese. After breakfast we walked to the nature museum of Elverum. 

Just walking to the museum I got to see the beautiful landscape of Elverum. There is a river called the Glomma River that runs through the whole town. Apparently it runs all the way from the North of Norway all the way to the sea. The first day I got to Elverum the river had been frozen, but today the river just had chunks of frozen pieces and the water was flowing: you can imagine how beautiful that looked. There were bridges that went across the river to get to the other side of the town. Maren lived on one side and the heart of the town (mall, cafe, shops, museum) was on the other.

The nature museum had everything you wanted to know about what Norway is famous for: their wood, what they hunt, what they fish, etc. It was really interesting to walk around the museum and learn about typical Norway because most of the things I hadn't known. After all, I had never been to Norway before.

After the museum we went to drop off Maren's car at her Grandpa's house so that he could change the tires from snow tires to regular tires. We just took his car for the afternoon so we didn't have to wait. Around her grandpa's neighborhood was a ski jump where, at the top, you can see all of the town of Elverum. We climbed to the top, took pictures and just looked out. I always see the ski jumps during the Olympics, but I had never seen one in real life before. I have to say, they are pretty amazing to see, especially without it being covered in snow.

Then we went to dinner at Maren's moms house. Her mom made typical Norwegian meatballs, fresh vegetables and split peas. All of it was so delicious! For dessert we had ice cream and porage with cinnamon. We sat around and talked with her brothers and Mom for awhile and eventually drove home.

When we got home we watched movies and ate chocolate and candy all night.

I Love the Norwegians

April 20,2013-

Well, today the sky was blue and the sun was out: something foreign for Norway this early in the year. I brought the sun from Barcelona, what can I say :).

We slept in, got ready, ate a typical Norwegian breakfast and then went to the local cafe where all the locals go on Saturday to drink coffee and chat.

For breakfast Maren made a special kind of pancakes. She mashed up one banana, then added egg and cinnamon, stirred it all together and cooked it in a small pan just like you would a pancake. It turned out just like one and it was delicious. Along with our banana/cinnamon pancake we had bread with cream cheese on it and topped it with their famous "brown cheese." On another slice of bread we had the same thing but a different kind of cheese on top the traditional Norwegian cheese called "Norvegia." And of course, my favorite, Leftsa.

After stuffing ourselves until we couldn't eat any more, we walked to the cafe. 

When we got there we sat down at a cute little table. There were people sitting outside at tables and couches for people to sit at inside. It was such a cute cafe and nicely decorated. 

Since we had already ate breakfast we decided to get an afternoon sweet. Looking at all the pastries I chose a random one that was authentic to Norway. Apparently the name of it was "kokosbolle," it was a chocolate on the outside, but filled with coconut cream on the inside, mmmm delishhh.

After our snacks we walked around more through the shops in the town, and eventually ended up finding the town mall. We walked around the mall which was mostly filled with clothing shops, however, then we found a flower shop. There were so many flowers that it was coming out of the store, so we stopped to "smell the roses (or flowers)" and looked around in there. The flowers were beautiful, I had wished my mom could have been with me so I could bring her home some or that we could come here together and look around. 

We smelled the flowers and looked around the shops for awhile and then began our walk back home. When we got home Maren made another typical Norwegian dish for dinner. We had a type of hard flatbread with lunch meat on it and sour cream on top. As a side we had porage with butter and cinnamon. 

It was one of Maren's friends birthdays today so we put on our cute dresses went out to her birthday party for the night. I got to meet all of Maren's other friends and see how the Norwegians celebrated birthdays. Everyone was so nice and so interested to hear about all my travels/ where I was from. I met so many new friends and loved every single one of them!

The Journey to Norway

April 19, 2013-

Today was the day, it was finally here! Today I was going to visit my close friend who lives in Norway. Her name? Maren.

Maren lives in Norway and studied abroad at Simi High my senior year. We met in English class and hung out all year together. She left the US and I thought I would probably never see her again. 

However, all that changed when I came to Barcelona. Why not go to Norway? Not many people can say they've been to Norway before? and on top of that, I have the opportunity to reunite with one of my good friends. Here I go:

After waking up at 2:45 in the morning, leaving the house around 4 to catch the bus to the airport at 4:20, I got on my flight which left Barcelona Airport at 6:15 in the morning. All that would have been a hassle, except after all of it I was on a flight to Norway to see Maren.

The flight took 3 hours from Barcelona to a town outside of Oslo called Rygge (because RyanAir flies in to nearby airports that's how it's so cheap). From Rygge I got on the bus to the main bus terminal in Oslo: or so I had hoped. Norwegian is NOTHING CLOSE to any language I can speak so I had absolutely no idea what people were saying or what any of the signs said. Luckily the Norwegian people are taught English as soon as they begin school, so everyone knew English.

I finally arrived in Oslo and waited two hours for my next bus which would take me to the town of Elverum: where Maren lives. Eventually I made it on the bus and was off to finally see Maren. Bus time: 2 hours.

Maren was waiting for me at the bus stop right as we pulled in and finally, we were reunited at last!

I didn't mind the bus rides because that meant I got to see the countryside, which was absolutely beautiful. On the side of the road would be mountains with beautiful rocks in the side and water flowing down. As far as you could see was miles (or should I say kilometers) and miles of forest. In my opinion Norway was the most beautiful country I've seen. Yes, even prettier than Italy. It reminded me of the area of Lake Shasta that we always drive through when going to Oregon every year, just pure forest with beautiful views. 

On our way to Elverum there was a huge frozen lake, we were driving on one side, and there were huge mountains and forests on the other. Again, this reminded me of the frozen lake we drive around in Oregon on our way to Bend. On the sides of the roads there were moose crossing signs all over: they have moose here, so much that they have to have signs for warning? HOW COOL!

Anyway, after Maren and I walked to her cute little home we set my stuff down and freshened up. Then we were off to watch a handball game: Norway's most famous sport. Her brother was playing in a tournament and her Dad was the coach. 

Conveniently the handball game was at her Nursing school, so before the game we walked around, she showed me her classrooms and gave me a tour of her school. The school was so modern: so brand new. It was a beautiful school: not too big, but not too small.

Then we went in to the gym to watch the game. I met her whole family: her Mom, Dad, Grandpa and Grandma. Since her brother was playing the game I wouldn't meet him until later.

The handball game was so different than any other sport I'd ever seen before, but I loved it. It was a mix between soccer and basketball. Each team has a goalie and they run up and down the court passing the ball to each other, sometimes dribbling, sometimes just running except handball is much more fast paced than basketball. The ball is flying all over the place and traveling at dart speed. Then as the players reach the other teams side of the court they throw it at the soccer type goal (but not very wide). Of course there is a goalie protecting the net, but when it comes that quickly, or they do tricks, it's very hard to react. The games usually only last about 20 minutes each too, but the kids are worn out by the end because of all the running back and forth.

Maren's brothers/Dads team won, by a long shot.

After the game we went home, Maren's friends came over (about 3+her roommate) and we all ate dinner together that her roommate had cooked for us while we were gone. She made garlic bread and a type of Norwegian soup with trout, salmon, shrimp and vegetables. Usually I don't like fish much, but the soup was delicious! For dessert, one of Maren's friends brought Neapolitan ice cream and we topped it with their version of M&Ms called "non stops." Norway is also known for their amazing chocolate, so not only were the non stops good, but they were made of their Norwegian chocolate making them 100 times better. We also had pieces of their famous milk chocolate called "Melkesjokolade": the best chocolate I have ever tasted.

After ice cream Maren made an authentic Norwegian dessert: Leftsa. Which was basically flatbread rolled with butter, sugar and cinnamon inside. This was by far my favorite food that I had while I was there. I ate it with breakfast, lunch, and dinner the following days I was there.

We sat around and talked as we ate dessert, eventually it got really late and everyone went home. Maren's bed was so comfortable and I was tired from being up so early, I don't think I've ever slept so good in my life. Norway was home.






 

Holi Holi Holi

April 14,2013-


Today marked the much anticipated Holi Festival in Barcelona.

It looked interesting online, why not go!

Apparently the Holi Festival is something having to do with the culture from India. On the poster for the event it said there would be colored powder shot into the crowd and live music.

It was another beautiful day, so we got our old white clothes on (so that the color would show) and joined everyone else wearing white on the metro and headed to the festival.
When we got to the festival there was Indian music playing, people were crowded around listening and dancing. Most of the people were covered from head to toe with colored powder, it was the coolest thing! So, naturally, we joined the swarm of people and got in on the fun!

Within seconds we too were covered with colored powder, however, the festival had too many people and with everyone dancing/jumping up and down the ground started to shake and it got dangerous. Unfortunately the policia shut the festival down and everyone made their way up the stairs and back to the metro. 

However, it was a gorgeous day and going home was not an option. We walked all around Barcelona just exploring and talking the whole way. We eventually stumbled upon the Segrada Familia and sat in the park right below it, got snacks, and ate in the sun. 

We had walked such a far way and it didn't even seem like it! 

I knew the Segrada Familia was close to my apartment, but we continued on our walk to find the neighborhood of Gracia. 

As we were walking, for some reason, I looked up and the street was Sardenya: the street to my apartment! 

Still covered in colors, we decided to change our plans and head to a park near my apartment to meet up with the Norwegian girls we had made friends with in my language class. 

Unfortunately it was getting late in the afternoon and I needed a shower so I just went home and the rest of the group met up with the Norwegians. Let me tell you, taking a shower has never felt so good! I had color EVERYWHERE, even in my hair, but it was worth it because it was a great experience.

There's a Hard Rock Everywhere

April 12,2013-

Well, the beautiful weather has finally arrived in Barcelona, but unfortunately, so have all the tourists. On the weekends they come around in full force: clogging the sidewalks, walking across the street when they're not supposed to, and stopping in the middle of the sidewalk and pointing around in the air. It's alright though, they're helping Spain's economy!

Today we decided to have a little taste of America and meet up for afternoon lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe Barcelona.

I was surprised when I went inside the building as they told me the only seating to eat was on the small outside patio. Usually the Hard Rock Cafes are HUGE, but maybe that's just the ones in America. We got a table on the patio and sat in the sun while we ate our delicious lunch. I had a BBQ pulled pork sandwich, fries, baked beans, and cole slaw. Oh how I've missed  American food.... SO much!

After we were done at the Hard Rock we headed for the beach for the afternoon. We laid in the sun and people watched for the rest of the day, I even got a little tan. Finally I wasn't translucent anymore, what a perfect day!

Cross that off the Barcelona Bucketlist

April 13,2013-

A day when the suns out and the sky is so blue can never be wasted. I was missing the beautiful state of Colorado today. 

As a way to somewhat pretend like we were in Colorado my friend and I decided to hike to the highest point in Barcelona, Mount Tibudabo. At the top of the mountain there's an amusement park with roller coasters and a huge church, not to mention an overview of the whole city of Barcelona.

So we began our journey to the top of the mountain. There was a tram that would take us to the top for a small fee, but we were determined to get our exercise in for the day and hike the whole way. Besides, it was a beautiful day, why not!

We walked along the small pathways surrounded by wild daisys and flowers. We even stopped a few times to pick some and put them in our hair. It was so beautiful to see grass, mountains, trees, and wild flowers again. It seems like living in the middle of the city it's a concrete jungle and I miss just being able to lay in the grass. 

We made our way to the top, bought some ice cream as a reward for making it up there, and sat in the sun overlooking all of Barcelona for the afternoon. It was a long ways up the hill, but the top made it worth it.

After awhile, the sun was starting to go down so we made our trek back down the mountain. On our way down we saw a guy who had crashed on his bike because there were rocks on the path. He had dirt all over his face, but was surrounded by his friends and seemed like he was going to be okay. 

We took our time going down the mountain because the quicker we were down meant back to the concrete jungle we'd go.

Well, as they say, all good things come to an end, and alas we made it down the mountain and got on the metro to take us home. When we got home I got on the computer and looked at how many miles it was to the top via the route that we took: 3 up and 3 back= we had hiked 6 miles today and it felt sooooo good!

What a beautiful day surrounded by nothing but nature: I'll be back to hike back up in a few weeks, Mount Tibudabo!

A Mental Health Day

April 11,2013-

School? Oh yeah, I forgot that was the reason I came to Barcelona in the first place ;).

Today I had one class, and I just couldn't seem to get myself to go to it. The sun was out, the sky was blue, and it was about 70 degrees, which all meant one thing: it was time to spend the day outside. And I did just that.

I met up with my friends for margaritas and Mexican food for lunch and then we just walked around the city all day stumbling upon new things.

We found another bocqueria type market, but way more clean and indoors, right up the street from my apartment. Looks like that's where I'll be going the next time it's time to grocery shop.

I sent my post cards and then we sat around the fountains, enjoyed the sun, and watched all the tourists for the rest of the afternoon.

It was a great day in Barcelona. Today I am thankful for the sun and this beautiful city. 

Tomorrow should be an adventure. Stay tuned :)

A Spontaneous 10k

April 7,2013-

Throughout the weekend I had been hearing from my Spanish friends that they were running a "marathon" on Sunday and when we were walking around Monjuiic yesterday I saw all these signs with numbers on it which I assumed had to do with said "marathon."

After we came home from the Olympic stadiums yesterday, I decided to research what this "marathon" was all about. 

This is what I found:

The run was only a 10k, some "marathon" and it was put on by El Corte Ingles. The huge store that they have in Spain which are about on every block. The store has 6 floors with everything from Chanel to pencils: they have EVERYTHING. If you hadn't guessed by the name yet, it also has many common American things, so when I miss home, Corte Ingles is where I head. I usually make a weekly visit to buy my peanut butter for my PB&J's I eat every day for lunch, mmmmmm, nothings ever tasted so good.

Anyway, the race was free and I had until Saturday night until 9:30 to sign up.

My logic: why not! I've never ran a 10k or any type of k before, but I've always wanted to. I'll just run as far as I can and then walk the rest of the way.

So, after our afternoon festivities we headed to Corte Ingles to register for the run. I was the only one who wanted to do it because all of my friends were either 1 going to be too hungover or 2 too lazy to even try. My roommate also registered just because, in theory she wanted to do it, but it was highly unlikely that she would wake up. That's alright, I was fine with running it by myself anyway. 

Later that night one of my friends Natasha had a change of heart and ended up taking my roommates number and running it with me.

We met in front of the ISA office at 9:15 and walked over to the starting line, ready for the race to begin. 

The race had over 80,000 people running it, so you can imagine the chaos there was. The gun went off at 9:30, but we didn't get to the starting line and start running until 9:45 because of the amount of people running. 

Then, we were off, a whole 6.5 miles ahead of us. 

We started running, and for whatever reason, I just never stopped. I ran the. whole. way!!! 6.5 miles!!!! And it only took 80 minutes!!! The course started at the main plaza in Barcelona, went up Monjuiic, through the Olympic track stadium, down and around Monjuiic, and then finished at the same plaza.

This was such a great accomplishment for me. Not only did I just run 6.5 miles, but I hadn't even trained for it. My body and mind felt so great afterward, the feeling was indescribable. I was on such a runners high. I was so proud of myself for not only doing it, but running the whole way too!

After the run, I got back to the apartment around 12 to find my roommate still in bed, fast asleep.

What did you do with your Sunday morning?

A Day at the Olympics

April 6, 2013-

Another day in paradise.

Today we woke up to the sunshine to the right of where we looked out the window and dark, puffy clouds to the right. This only meant one thing: the rain was coming, but not yet here. QUICK, do everything you can before it arrives.

I jumped out of bed, threw on my clothes, talked to Amanda online and headed to the Olympic stadiums that were built in to a mountain in the south Barcelona.

We took the metro and then hiked up the mountain a little to where we could see a panoramic view of Barca. After taking pictures and sitting in the sun on a bench in the park for awhile, when the sun went behind the clouds, we hiked up the mountain more to the stadiums.

Barcelona was the city of the 1992 Summer Olympic Games and the stadiums were still there and are still being used for various activities. My absolute dream is to attend the Olympic Games one year, so getting to the stadiums that were once used had me so excited.

We got to go inside the track and field stadium. Although I thought the stadium would be much bigger, I still loved it. A little lower on the mountain was the indoor Olympic pools which were being used for a swim meet so unfortunately we didn't get to go inside. Lower than the pools was the basketball courts, and even lower than that were the baseball fields. After looking around and seeing all of those places it started to pour rain and was getting late in to the afternoon. We hiked back up, around and down to the metro station to go home.

Just being able to see the stadiums was great, I can't even imagine how it would feel/what it would look like if the games were actually taking place. I am so excited to one day be able to attend the games!

See the Olympic Stadiums: check!

The Breakfast Club

April 5, 2013-

It's finally the weekend! I can't believe that it's only been two days since I was in Italy, it already seems like it was forever ago.

Unfortunately the weather forecast for the weekend is rain, but that wasn't going to stop me from checking things off my Barca Bucketlist.

Included in my Barca Bucketlist, I have made a section for "food." All the restaurants I want to go to are listed.

What a perfect way to start the first weekend back from Spring Break by going to brunch with all my girl friends and hearing how everyone's break was. You know, I do miss pancakes and french toast. mmmmm

We ate brunch and had mimosas and bloody mary's at a little brunch cafe called "Milk." Everything about the inside of the restaurant was so cute and laid back. I had french toast with berries on top and greek yogurt on the side. I mixed the berries in with the greek yogurt and poured maple syrup on the french toast and I was in heaven. I cannot tell you how delicious it was, my mouth is watering just thinking about it!!!!

We all decided it was going to be our new Friday ritual to come to Milk for brunch: a breakfast club :)

We sat at the restaurant and talked for hours and then continued our day by going shopping. It started raining, but when girls want to go shopping, nothing stops them. We shopped until our little hearts couldn't shop any more. Soaking wet, freezing cold, but very happy with our purchases, we went our separate ways to the heat in our own homes. A girls day well spent.

Out with the Old, In with the New

April 3,2013-

Back to reality means back to school. Today we started new classes which will last until the end of the semester. Language classes and schedules remain the same, however, I now have two new classes: History of Modern and Contemporary Art and The Write in the City.

Two classes that didn't seem appealing to me at all, but would work for school credit at UNC so I had to take them. 

However, after the first day is over, I am so excited for this upcoming semester. These classes seem like they are going to be so much more interesting than last semesters. The professors are both men and seem to be super funny, a change from last semester, the women were boring!

Needless to say, I am excited to see what this semester brings and the new things I will be learning in Barcelona!

Life is great, I love my city!

The Morning That Lasted Forever

Bonjourno! Bright and early.

It was 3:30 a.m.

We were leaving the hotel at 3:50 to catch the night bus to get to the train station where the bus was that would take us to the airport.

The night bus was our only choice and we needed to make sure that we got on that bus, because it was our only hope. If we had missed the night bus, we would have missed our flight.

After catching the night bus at 4:15, we arrived at the train station at 5. One more trip and we would be at the airport and on our way. However, the airport bus didn't leave until 6:30, so we were an hour and a half early: better early than late. So we sat in the terminal at the bus station and ate donuts for an hour and a half until it was time to go.

After getting on the bus at 6:30, we got to the airport at about 7, waited in line to check in, and then made it to the gate.

While standing in line to get on board we saw these girls from ISA (my study abroad program) who go to UPF (a different school in Barca) which we knew from when we went on excursions together. They had two friends with them, who we later found out go to UAB (the other university in Barca) and are also in ISA. We stood in line and talked to them and then sat with them on the plane together. Yay for making new friends and talking to old ones, what a small world!

Finally, at 8:30, we were on our flight and Barcelona bound! So tired and so sleepy, I slept the whole place ride there.

Eventually I made it back to the apartment at about 12 and had the rest of the day to myself to gather my thoughts, go grocery shopping, unpack, and relax. It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining, I opened the windows, and music was playing. Ahh, it was good to be home.

Day 12: Barca Barca Baaaarcaaaa!

The People of Rome

April 1,2013-

Here in Rome, not only is there Easter Sunday, but they also have Easter Monday. 

We woke up this morning and went down for our delicious breakfast and then came back to the room and took a nap. The time change was in full affect this morning.

Around 12 o'clock we began our journey to the Trevi Fountain. For some reason, the crowds were significantly larger today than they had been the days before.

There were so many people at the fountain that it so hard to get a picture without someone walking right in front of it. So frustrating and so rude. We took a few pictures, or tried to, and then I got overwhelmed and had to get out of there.

We walked up the street a little to the pantheon, but it was closed. However, there was a little crack in the doors so we waited in a short line to peak through and see inside. After peaking in the doors, it was a nice day, so we sat in the piazza in the sun and people watched.

After people watching for a few hours we walked back to the trevi fountain to see if the crowd had gone away, took some more pictures, and then took the back roads to the Colosseum. I liked taking the back roads to the Colosseum, it helped us really get a feel for how Rome really was, underneath all the tourism.

We took more pictures at the Colosseum and then sat around again and people watched some more, this time a different crowd.

By the time we were done people watching it was time to eat, we walked back towards the place we had ate at last night and found a pizza place to eat. I had my last bruschetta and a delicious pizza, which I carried on the plane the next day because I had leftovers.

Then we headed back to piazza Venezia to catch our bus home. We waited for about 45 minutes in the pouring rain for the bus, which took longer than usual today. Of course, it was just as crowded as the day before, but this time we were 10 times wiser. Everyone was shoulder to shoulder and again, the door wouldn't close.

Then, because we were leaving so early the next day to catch our flight we needed to check out and pay our hotel the night before. We went down to the desk, thinking we only had to pay 8 euro for the city tax because Amanda had already paid the rest online, and the receptionist told us we still owed 277 euro. Great, I didn't have that kind of money just laying around and Amanda had her wallet stolen so she didn't either. We were in a complete panic.

Luckily Amanda was able to get her moms credit card number to pay it and the receptionist could type it in the machine rather than having to have the card physically there, problem avoided. Finally, it was time to call it a night, our clocks were set for 3:30 a.m. to catch the bus to get to the bus station which would take us to the airport. 

Day 11: Trouble in Roma

No Candy on Easter

March 31, 2013-

Happy Easter everyone!! I hope the Easter bunny brought you all the candy in the world!

Today was a little bit of a slower day than the last two for Amanda and I. Most things around Rome were closed, including most restaurants and everyone was picking out flowers from the guys who sell flowers out of their trucks, obviously for their families or wherever they were headed to celebrate the Lord's Rising.

For me, I missed my family the most this day. I knew we would be waking up, dressing up in our cute spring dressed for Easter mass in the morning, then coming back home, eating brunch and then sitting in the sun all day just enjoying each others company: a good quality family day. Something I'll never be able to explain how much I've missed since I've been abroad. I really am having the time of my life, but I'll always miss my family when I'm away from them.

Anyway, we woke up at 9 a.m. and went down to eat breakfast before it was over and then came back to the room and turned on the television as we were getting ready to watch the Pope giving Easter Mass at Saint Peter's Square. The sun was out and it was a beautiful Easter Sunday. Even though we weren't at the mass, the tv made it seem like we were. The crowds were just too much for us for today, so we decided to relax and have a low-key Easter.

In each of the cities/towns we've been to at one point we've been able to see a panoramic view of the whole city, and Rome would be no different. Why not go on a hike on Easter Sunday and enjoy God's creation? What a perfect way to celebrate.

Of course, on our way there we got lost, but the hike was so beautiful and the view over Rome was something to see. We spent a few hours up at the top just looking around and admiring all the great beauty that surrounded us on this beautiful Easter Sunday. As we headed down the mountain we found this cute restaurant that we couldn't resist, so we sat down and ate (at 4:30 p.m.). I had really good lasagne, although no lasagna is better than my moms homemade (which I can't wait to eat when I get home) and the best bruschetta I've had in Italy. We ordered the house bottle of wine and to finish our meal some type of chocolate cake.

After dinner we walked to piazza Venezia and then got on the bus to head home. The bus was absolutely packed, to the point that the doors couldn't even close. And still, the bus driver stopped at every stop to let more people get on. At one of the stops most of the people got off and we could finally breathe again, only for Amanda to look in her purse and realize that someone had taken her wallet: on Easter Sunday, what a shame.

We made it home, even with that little bump, and realized the time had changed an hour. Welcome to Daylight Savings Time Europe. Which also means I am now 9 hours away from California and 8 away from Colorado. I was just getting used to the 8 and 7, it was actually quite nice!

At the end of the day, just before I closed my eyes, I realized that I didn't get to eat any Easter candy on Easter. Europe doesn't really have bags of candy. I miss America.

Day 10: A different kind of Easter