Sleep can solve a multitude of sin

    I feel so much better after getting some sleep. I awoke today at around 7am because today is Father's Day. We were all going to share Zeppolis in honor of St. Joseph. Zeppolis are a puff pastry delight filled with a burst of magnificent cream. I bet Danilo bought these at the Pope's Pastry Shop Sesta in Albano. St. Joseph is the patron saint of all fathers. As a class, we ended up making a card for our Italian father Danilo. We have become this small family of sorts: Danilo is the Dad and Dr. Dubs is the mom and there are 2 boys and 7 girls in the family. We are a precocious family seemingly challenging the boundaries of communication and interaction each day. We complement each other and fill in the gaps. Some of us speak our mind more than others. Some of us are too afraid to venture out into the unknown. As a whole, we encourage each other to not be afraid and forget time to enjoy the moment.
     After class as usual, Ali and I ventured into Rome by ourselves. She needed to finish up her walking tour and I just wanted to be in the city. I knew my way around well and I thought I would share the time with her. We ended up starting at the Spanish Steps. We had a slice of pizza at a little pizza shop right outside the entrance into the subway. They make amazing pizza. We then walked down Via Condotti and Via Della Corso to the Trevi Fountain. From the fountains of all fountains, we headed to the god of Piazzas, Piazza Novana. We then headed to the Lepanto Metro Station and came back to the intersection of Via Condotti and Via Della Corso. We happened to fall upon my absolute passion: AC ROMA's team shop. I am obsessed with soccer. I played through high school and my first two years of University. My career came to a crashing halt when I broke my left tibia from excessive stress fractures. It never healed right and I haven't been able to run well since.
     It was a constructive day and I enjoyed it. I honestly wish we had more time here. I am starting to feel the end of our semester coming to an end. I feel that there is never enough time in the day to experience all that I would like to experience. I feel rushed most times much like our scavenger hunt the other day. We run by so many beautiful things that I want to cry. Well, I can't wait to go to Florence to meet my new boyfriend David. He lives in the Gallery Anticanna. I heard he just got back from a military battle and will become King. I hope he looks like Prince William from the UK.

Caccia al Tesoro

We had a scavenger hunt in and around Piazza di Novana. Matt, Brittany and I were a group. Of course Matt is a slave driver and has to win.....He actually was quite funny about everything. I have asthma that kicks up when I have not been consistent with my exercises. Chasing after Matt down the sidewalks of Rome almost made with want to vomit. By the time we finished I was drenched in sweat, Brittany was dieing and Matt was bummed that we were told the wrong answers for many of the questions.
   It started out with 10 questions asking a random of facts about Rome. It was written in Italian so that we had Italian practice. My recollection tells me that for example: one of the questions asked about a famous fountain near the famous University of Rome. It was something about a fat guy sitting on a keg barrel. One of the disappointing things about this whole treasure hunt is that a majority of the Romans know nothing about the very eternal city they live in. We asked so many people for the answers to our questions. It was not like the answers were only known to the scholars of the city. They were rather common known knowledge. At one point we begged a bus driver to drive us to our destination. Finally, we became discouraged and stopped in at a travel agency and asked to use her computer. On the positive side, we were able to answer 5 of the 10 questions within the first 5 minutes of the hunt. When we arrived back we saw one of the other groups sitting with Danilo and Dr Dubs. When our answers were checked 2 of the 10 questions were wrong. Are you kidding me? Even the internet and travel agent is wrong. We walked back to Termini Station sulking as sore losers.
   When we arrived back to campus we decided to make plans for St. Patrick's Day in Rome. Let's see what comes of this.

A Day in the Life of Gaudi

       The next morning we headed out to see the famed church of Gaudi, La Sagrada Famili or The Sacred Family. It has been in the construction phase now for over 100 years. You can see when another decade occurred just like the rings in a tree. The stone becomes lighter. The amazing thing about this church is that it is fully funded by private donation. This is why the church has taken so much time to complete. Jenna made the remark that the church looks like wet sand slowly melting into the earth. I wonder if this church will be finished within my life time. As a souvenir, I bought a tile with the church engraved into it. I have been doing this quite often. I have built up a nice collection of tiles. Maybe one day I will use them to decorate my kitchen. Afterwards, we decided to break for lunch. We found a nice little Tapas Bar. Ali protested because she didn't want to try something she knows she will not like because it is not American food. (I want to make a point here. You never know until you try.)

She didn't want to try something that she wasn't familiar with in her America diet??? She found a KFC to have her lunch. KFC? You can get that at home. We are only here once for all we know and will never return abroad. You need to try food before you say no. I think that the international market of American Fast Food Chains has ruined the experience of foreign food for not so adventurous Americans. On the other hand, Ali would never try anything not American. This is her nature. This nature will fail her to gain the most out of this experience. For me, I would try even the craziest of things if I had the chance over eating a "heart attack" on a bun sandwich.

copy right: Emma Coleman

    We then headed to the famed Parque Guell also designed by Gaudi. We had walk up this steep walk way.....scratch that......We had to climb this hill to enter the park. The park is located on one of the highest hills in Barcelona. It was a pure cardio work out.  Matt, Nicole and Brittany were here two weeks ago. They made this video of them struggling to get to the top of the hill. We almost felt like doing the same. I do have to say that when we did arrive to the park it was like entering a dream. Gaudi was a master of twists and turns with exotic patterns and colors. As we walked around the park we noticed that every single corner had a thoughtful design and layout. Exiting the park, we stopped to enjoy a flute concert.
      We then headed down to the beach that we were trying to find yesterday. It was one of the longest walks ever to the beach but it was one of the cleanest beaches the girls have seen. For me, this was my first time seeing a beach. I have never walked on a beach before. I have never enjoyed the sand between my toes or the peaceful nature one feel just sitting in their own make shift armchair made from sand. I have also never experienced the wide variety of nudity. bahaha Some people should never sun bathe nude. It isn't meant for us all. I was enjoying every moment. Jenna was laughing at me because I looked like a five year old visiting the beach for the very first time. We ended up sunning at the beach for about two hours. An alarming thing at first was that this was a nude beach. Every so often we would walk past a nude sun bather or topless woman taking in the sun. The girls and I had a walk through the waves. We wondered why no one was in the water. Well, we found out why no one was in the water. It was ice cold. The sun, on the other hand, was a welcoming warmth to us. We found a nice spot and parked ourselves to enjoy the view. These guys behind us were trying to roll beers down a make shift sand hill to us. I think that they were trying to invite us to play this said tennis game. They were about our age and probably were interested because of our exotic Ohio Accent. We decided to leave the beach before the sun started to set. We wanted to share pyaya, muscles and blue cheese pizza at one of the restaurants along the beach for sun set.
      Ali again chose to order a hamburger and fries. She did not even want to try a bit of our pyaya. She missed out on a quintessential meal of Spain, especially Barcelona. 

     The next morning we started our journey nice at early at the ripe old hour of 6:30AM. We had to travel to Girona airport three hours away. When we arrived we begged for the border patrol to stamp our passport. They thought that we were childish for wanting it stamped. I talked to this guy for 5 minutes in Spanish telling him about why Americans like to have their passport stamped. In the end, we had to end the conversation because Ryanair decided to change our departure time and move it up. Then they changed the gate three times. Needless to say we looked like a "Home Alone" movie running all over the airport.   

I Am Sorry: Lo Siento...non mi dispiace

    After what took like for ever to get cleaned up, we met back at the Travel Bar for a Tapas tour and Flamenco dancing. We met out tour guide Max for drinks. I think he fancied Jenna. Since this was his first week in Barcelona and our first time in Barcelona he wanted to join us. He was a cool guy besides having a wee bit of a creeper side. Oh the people you meet when you travel. He probably thought the same of us.
   I have to share this story. We were walking with an escort to the restaurant to enjoy 20 plates of different tapas and Sangria. We were walking down this rather narrow street just like any other narrow street in Europe. The cobblestones were rather rough as well. Our group was scattered from edge to edge of the of the tiny street. Out of no where a woman comes racing past me on her bike and wipes out so bad in front of us. She flew into some parked Vespas. We were all shocked that we witnessed such a huge wipe out. I swear that even the cobblestones were screaming from the impact of her body against their random texture. Then, out of no where life must have taken its breath because this woman came running over to me so fast that I couldn't even comprehend what was about to happen to me. She starts screaming at me in Spanish that she rang her bell and I should have heard it. She started saying that this was "all of my fault and that I am a fat ass for taking up the whole road." Now I am on the larger side but when did a size 10 mean taking up the whole road. Then, she started digging her index finger into my chest and started screaming louder. I was so shocked that all I could remember is how to say I am sorry in Italian. I have been living in Italy now for 3 weeks. My ten years of Spanish education and communication was not top priority at the time. I just ended up saying nothing. Our escort came over and she decided to pop back on her bicycle and ride away. At this point I started to shake a little. This woman was barely 5 foot tall. I towered over her at my conservative height of 5 foot 8 inches and according to her, my fat ass size 10 butt. Her Spanish character overwhelmed me so much. I can't believe I was intimidated by a short woman for something that wasn't even my fault.
     Five minutes later out of no where I get this shove. She returned this time to attack me. My worst fears, I will beaten up by someone that I would out match. This time she starts verbally attacking me in English. I still couldn't get anything out of my mouth. I just started saying I am sorry over and over again. She wouldn't leave. This time, instead of her index finger, her fist started digging into me. The escort came running over towards us to talk her down. She wouldn't let it be. She wanted a piece of my fat ass size 10 self. It took the escort 10 minutes to talk her down. She became so loud at one point that everyone in the neighborhood started looking at me and her. Finally she dispersed. Through the silence came the funniest comment from an older English couple in our group. The wife said, "She must have been on dope or something." (It sounds so much better when someone English says it.)
    When we finally sat down at the restaurant everyone came rushing over to me. The scene looked like a meeting at the UN. There was probably 30 different nationalities asking whether I was alright. Wow, what a story eh? After a few glasses of the best Sangria and 20 different Tapas, the image of having a near beating by a Spanish lady passed over me. We then headed over to the Flamenco club to watch such an amazing show. My Spanish teachers through the years told me about how in person, this dance can be mesmerizing. The movements are made with such amazing emotion. I couldn't help but to be moved when she finished up her first dance. Even the music that accompanied her was amazing. I was loving every moment of it. Finally, a language and culture that I have studied for years is finally coming to life in front of me.

Gothic Barcelona

Gaudi church: Copyright-Emma Coleman

Santa Eulalia statue

Last night, Marty told us about a free tour of Gothic Barcelona. We had our breakfast and headed out to meet at a travel bar to meet our guide in Central Barcelona. Our tour guide was named Max and he had just arrived from Australia. We walked the way of the great Spanish artists Picasso and Gaudi. Max took us to some ancient Roman Ruins of ancient Catalucia. We almost had to laugh. We see these types of ruins everyday. We were almost not phased by them at all. We have seen more interesting ones in our backyard. One of the most interesting stops was in the area that Santa Eulalia was martyred. She was subjected to 13 tortures. One that sticks with me the most is that she was thrown in a barrel with knives stuck in it. She was then rolled down a steep part of the street over and over again. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eulalia_of_Barcelona This website is a nice summary of her history. When she was crucified in the piazza it snowed. It never snows in Barcelona.  She is such an interesting person to read about. I would give in after 1 torture let alone 13 tortures.
    We then headed over to the school that Pablo Picasso's father taught at. This is where he received much of his early art education. The odd thing about this area is that it is considered throughout history to be the "red light" district of Barcelona. One of Picasso's famous paintings of the many naked ladies is said to be of the whores that inhabited that street during his early years. Interesting enough, we walked through Plaza Real and Plaza Tripe. These areas are known for their architecture and for the known drug dealings of Gothic Barcelona. Hmmm, at least this tour was free. One of the more interesting stops was the church that Gaudi frequented. The focus was on the bomb damage on the outside of the church. King Ferdinad ordered Mussolini to drop a bomb in the Plaza as to make known the Spanish regime meant business. The bomb damage can still be seen to this day.
   Our tour was then ended back at the travel bar. We decided to stay at the bar to have lunch and shared a beer with Max. He told us of a man that walks the Olympic beach that is called Elephant Man. His butt is tattooed to look like a speedo and the front like an elephant. I will let you use your imagination. Needless to say, we headed to the beach after lunch only to fail at finding the said Elephant Man. We ended up walking across the Millennium bridge to see all of the illegals selling every knock off brand imaginable. All of these illegals seem to be of Northern African decent. They all have the same look and they all sell the same off brand merchandise that the same group of people sell in Italy. We headed back to our Hostel and came upon the famed street Las Ramblas. To best describe this famous street it is a twist of Las Vegas and Bohemian art. The street performers are amazing. There was this one that was pretending to look like a statue. He was the Devil and when you dropped a coin in the can he would come to life. The weird part of it all is that this puppet he had would turn around and freak everyone out. Everyone seemed to have a marketable skill from statue art to volleying a soccer ball head to toe. My thought is that these soccer people should actually put their skill to work and play for a team not pan handle on the street. I have played soccer both on a university level and semi-pro. My volley skills sucked compared to these men.

 

Barcelona: late night arrival.

    After our very odd trip through the catacombs: Rachel, Jenna, Ali and I raced back to Termini train station to grab our bags and jump on the train to Ciampino Airport. We are headed to Girona and then on the bus to Barcelona. We are not due to arrive until 1am Barcelona time. But who cares? I am excited to just see another city in another country. It will be our first time flying within the continental Europe. When we arrived in Spain we walked straight through customs. We were all shocked because we were used to being stopped and getting a stamp in our passport. We later learned that the Schengen agreement allows free movement across boarders between all signed countries. Being American however, we wanted our passports stamped. Total bummer! Exiting the airport, we found the proper bus to Barcelona and bought a return ticket. The ride was about an hour and a half to two hours into the main Barcelona bus station across from the subway. A thoughtful conversation was started on the bus. The question was asked what we were all trying to make of this semester abroad. Rachel asked me why I am trying to get so much out of this trip and not worry about friends so much. I think Rachel noticed that I was trying to distance myself from her. I told her that I wanted her to have her own trip. I wanted her to challenge herself without the comforts of me being around. For me, I wanted to examine my life in different ways. I wanted to challenge the boundaries that I have become comfortable with in my life. I also, and most importantly for me, I wanted to breath life into the history and stories of my Italian grandparents. I wanted to have a sense of where they came from and why the family left.     When we arrived to Barcelona and got into the subway we had to call Matt. Matt, Nicole and Brittany traveled here two weeks ago. We weren't too sure how to buy our tickets. We had to get on clot and transfer to the purple line and get off at Pep Ventura. No one was on the train and it was also 1am. Being women and traveling outside of our comfortable Rome, we were afraid of pretty much our own shadow. When we arrived we pretty much walked out of the subway and right into the hostel. We were staying in Barcelona Dream: http://www.hostelworld.com/hosteldetails.php/Be-Dream-Hostel/Barcelona/11639?source=adwordsbarcelonanamesbff&KID=1136577&AID=2&sub_keyword=barcelona+dream+hostel&sub_ad=e&sub_publisher=ADW&gclid=CMCIvJT2prkCFYFhMgodVhoAaQ. It reminded us of an art student's dorm room. It was so nice. Marty, the guy at the front desk told us that we might have a guy staying with us. We told him that we would prefer not to have anyone in the room. He agreed to keep it just us which is rare when staying in hostels. They pretty much throw anyone in a room with you. The room was cozy, there were lockers and we felt quite safe. We tried to get some food but nothing was open. Marty fed us with spaghetti. We ate while we spoke with some Irish girls who shared a can of beer with us. It was like college living all over. Marty pretty much told us everything we needed to know. The hostel even had free breakfast.

TOMBS, TOMBS, TOMBS

     Yesterday was an over all stressful day. I think that it has finally set in for everyone that we are living in a foreign country. Today is Dr. Dubs birthday. We decided to go to the United Color of Bennetton store and buy her something pink to cheer her up. Danilo gathered us all up and told us to get Dr. Dubs to have a meeting with him. We were to set up the sitting room with the pink champagne and the birthday cake made by the Pope's pastry shop in Albano. Danilo said that he would make up some story that we were bad and he wanted to talk to her about it. When she walked in, she was in tears. She said it was one of the best surprises for her. Yesterday just put her over the edge. We danced around for the night to music and had a great time. Tomorrow we are headed to the Catacombs of ancient Rome. It shall be interesting walking around in the catacombs.

     Jenna, Rachel, Ali and I are headed out to Barcelona tonight immediately after we visit the catacombs. All of the catacombs are outside of the old Roman walls. Christians were not allowed to be buried within the walls. One thing that I find interesting is that one woman donated the majority of her family land for the Christian cause of burial. I have to admit that I was not expecting what I was about to experience. Death and cemeteries always carry a certain cord with me. I can just hold it together enough to look like I have it together. When we arrived to the catacombs we walked into a nice brick building. Now, if this is what it is going to be I will be rather surprised. Out of the darkness of descending stairs to the levels below comes our tour guide. I have to say that she was about the weirdest tour guide I have ever met. She introduced herself in this spacey type voice. She kind of reminds me of Professor Tralawney from Harry Potter. She only said one thing to us before be descended down stairs into the necropolis. She stated that we are to never stray from the group. A researcher years ago got lost down there for 3 days before someone found him. That is how vast these tombs are. We all exchanged a look of fright towards each other as we walked down the stairs.

     "Tombs, Tombs, Tombs," our guide exclaims as our eyes adjust to the dimly light darkness. The tombs were dug out into the volcano dirt. The best way to describe what the tombs look like would be a maze of hallways of volcanic dirt. In the walls are the coves that the once whole bodies were laid to rest. The majority of the tombs were opened and the bodies removed. The closed tombs have either a tombstone of sorts over the opening or it is bricked up. Our guide suggested we put our hands in one of the open tombs to feel the cold volcanic ash. She stuck her hand in to show that it was not going to disappear on us. When she pulled her hand out she did something so weird. She smelled her hand. WHY??? I don't have a big problem with death as long as I don't linger too long. Our tour guide was lingering too long. We all started to freak out a bit. She did explain that the rich would be buried in a family room of sorts. In these rooms were paintings off the disciples or of Jesus. Little dishes were carried down to the tomb filled with oil that would light the way.  Towards the end of our tour, our guide took us to one of the most famous rooms. This room was very different than what we have been walking through. This room had vaulted ceilings. On one part was a painting of the last supper about the main tomb. She told us that this tomb was most likely the patriarch of the family. It is hard to put into words how beautiful this room was. How can death be beautiful? As we ascended the steps back to the living, I felt in awe of what I had experienced. I think it is honorable to be able to see where populations past were buried and now are an example to the present.

   Rachel, Jenna, Ali and I had to rush back to the trains station because we were headed out to Barcelona later this evening. We decided to fly out tonight so that we have a full day tomorrow. This will be our first experience flying with RyanAir, the student's discount airline that can either be a dream come true or a nightmare. Now, we have to fly into Girona which is really close to France. Then, we will have to take a 2 hour bus into Barcelona where we will catch the subway to our hostel. This shall be interesting.