When in Rome...

So excited to write this next blog… definitely just experienced my favorite weekend of Europe in the beautiful city of Rome.  SO much history there- I’ll try not to ramble on about every single thing I saw but instead hit the highlights that stuck out to me.

Woke up for an early flight leaving at 5:55 AM (vomit), but it ended up being totally worth it as it gave us an entire day to see so many things.  We just had chug a few expresso shots (coffee is NOT the same in Europe… Starbucks is going to love me when I come back to the states) to make it through the day.  The first thing we went to was the Roman Forum, where we walked around with a very unhelpful audio guide with a heavy accent but it was amazing to see nonetheless.  It was basically the downtown of Rome back in the day and is a bunch of ruins and ancient government buildings where they had public speeches, criminal trials, elections, etc and was built under the reign of Julius Caesar. 

The next stop was one of my favorite sites- the Coliseum.  It completely blew my mind being there and trying to imagine what it must have been like for the Christian martyrs who were killed here thousands of years ago.  Pretty disturbing and scary to think about a filled stadium of 50,000 spectators all cheering for your death, simply as entertainment for them.  It definitely challenged me to examine myself: Really- would I refuse to deny my faith in the face of death?  Of a terrifying, mocking, and cruel death?  I left the Coliseum grasping so much more the importance of abandoning our lives and will to God at all costs.  And how blessed I am to worship freely.

Our hostel, ironically called Hotel Beautiful, was NOT beautiful.  No air conditioning, tiny room with 4 girls in 2 bunkbeds, and the tiniest shower known to man.  Oh, and one of our friends got bed bugs.  I guess you get what you pay for.  But the location was amazing and the guy at the front desk would help us navigate to the places we wanted to see.  He loved my sharpie pen- guess they don’t have those in Italy!

The next morning we woke up early to beat the crowds to the Vatican, which is actually technically it’s own city.  Found out that it isn’t just the place where the Pope lives and gives addresses, but attached to it is St. Peter’s Basilica and the Sistine Chapel (which unfortunately I wasn’t allowed to get pictures of.  Has Leonardo Divinci’s famous painting with God and man reaching out to each other).  When we walked into St. Peter’s Basilica, we walked in just in time to sit in on a Mass and listen to the sermon.  The basilica was extravagant and had beautiful beams of light streaming in.  While everything was awe-striking, I pray that this is a place where people come in, all these tourists from all over the world who don’t know Jesus come in, and somehow come to know Him as their Lord and Savior.  That it wouldn’t just be a building with beautiful architecture honoring a man (but an amazing man at that who died for the sake of the gospel.)  That this wouldn’t be simply be a place of tradition, but that it would be a place where the true gospel is proclaimed and people come to know the Lord.  That people would hear the amazing news that we have been saved and redeemed by a God who humbled himself to death and paid the penalty for our sins, the penalty we deserved to bear, and that we no longer are under condemnation.  That there is nothing we can do to earn our salvation or earn the love of God because we already have it through the triumph of the cross.  We can’t sin less, or earn higher favor from God for trying to be a better person.  We are no longer slaves to that and His love is unconditional.   He is not a distant God who sits on his throne and judges us, but a God who intimately knows us and loves us and desires a relationship with his children.  May this message, the gospel, be proclaimed in this place.  But by far the most amazing thing was walking below the basilica to see the room under which Peter himself is buried.  I simply could not fathom it, and really still can’t.

One of my favorite things about Rome was simply the atmosphere.  Every night we would sit out at the fountains of one of the piazzas and just listen to the music, watch people socialize and eat just enjoy the ambiance of a typical Italian night.  Really chill time to just relax and reflect on the reality that we were enjoying a beautiful night in a beautiful city!

This next part was personally my absolute favorite part of Rome.  We visited the catacombs outside the city, which were underground tunnels where christians/christian martyrs were buried.  Something amazing that I didn’t realize was that the catacombs were also a place where Christians met in secret during the persecutions.  This was when the christians drew fish in the sand to communicate to each other.  The word FISH in greek is IXQYC which was used as an acronym that stood for Jesus Christ God’s Son Savior.  I learned a lot about the threat Christianity was to the Roman Empire and how amazing yet scary to think about what Jesus taught was something completely different than any other religion, than anything that had ever been heard- that it was growing so fast that the most power empire in the world felt threatened enough to take the extreme measures that they did in persecutions.  We got to see the bones (and even the hair) of a 13 year old girl who refused to deny Christ was preserved in the catacomb (apparently something about the humidity under ground preserving bones longer?).  Unfortunately the attack from barbarians destroyed most of the catacombs so not many can be identified.  It was so thrilling to think about how where I stood was where my brothers and sisters thousands of years ago met to worship together and learn together, and celebrate this amazing news that we have salvation through Jesus (but of course terrifying it must have been for them too.)

We went to Castel Sant’ Angelo after that where we didn’t know much about what we were looking at but it sure was cool! (Sorry I sounds super naïve and uncultured.)  It had a beautiful view of Rome on the top, with an especially great view of the Vatican.

We later saw the Spanish Steps, as well as the Trevi Fountain where I made a wish and threw a coin into the fountain.  Hope it comes true!

That night we ate in the area of Trastevere neighborhood, where we were suggested to go for an authentic, Italian meal in a non-tourist area.  It. Was. Incredible.  Exactly what you would think of when you think Italy: Delicious pasta, beautiful alleyways, accordians and violins playing genuine Italian music, the whole works!

Then of course we ended the Rome trip to a famous gelato placed called Giolitti, next to the Pantheon.  There were literally hundreds of people crammed in there trying to squeeze to the front to look at over 40 flavors of the most delicious gelato (and I had my fair share of gelato throughout the 3 days) my lips have ever tasted!  So fun and sooooo yummy.  Had our last night of hanging out in the piazza in front of the Pantheon just soaking it all in, not wanting to leave Italy the next morning. (And not to mention return to a week of 2 papers, 2 tests, and 2 presentations… oof!)  One of my most amazing weekends ever though, for sure!

Things I learned:

1) If you choose not to eat the bread they give you (because it’s not free), they charge you a service fee anyway.  We asked what that covered, and they said, “The napkin.” One of our girls asked, “What if I don’t use the napkin?” The waiter was not amused… Takeway: We’re cheap Americans and Italians don’t like that.  We probably should just suck it up and be cooperative with their expensive demands.

2) Don’t look at a postcard at a street stand and accidentally put it back in the wrong pile.  I got legitimately yelled at loudly and passionately in Italian (the dramatic hand gestures and all), which I actually received rather well considering it was on my bucket list to hear an genuine, angry and loud Italian

3)  There is Texas A&M graffiti at the exit of the Coliseum that’s apparently been there a couple years.  We took a senior whooping picture next to it... but it’s actually kind of embarrassing in my opinion.  It doesn’t follow our motto that “Aggies do not lie, cheat, steal, or tolerate those who do, or graffiti a world renowned structure.”

4)  3 gelattos a day keep the doctor away.

Coliseum

 C

Coliseum

aTm graffiti

 C

yummy gelato! Typical...

My favorite waiter in Italy! Such a precious man whose legit Italian!

Tortellini!

Pantheon

Mass service at St. Peters basilica 

A stroll through Madrid

The past couple of days our study abroad group has spent some quality time in Madrid!  I’ve absolutely loved this city.  Still a fun and vibrant city, but a lot more chill.  It’s been so relaxing, and we had the greatest luck with just beautiful weather.  Like, zero humidity. Ever.

We got in late Wednesday night after a 8 hour bus ride filled with naps, watching cd after cd of Season 1 of Friends, and writing a paper about the European Council for one of my classes.  Our hotel is right in the middle of all the action, which was really fun.

The next day we had free, so a group of us went to the Madrid Palace, where the kings and queens of Spain lived back in the day.  Ridiculously fancy and some cool stuff- such as Stradivarius’ violin!  We also went to the Reinada Sofia Modern art museum, where we saw some crazy abstract art that I wish I was cultured enough to really appreciate, but feel like I was probably making a really confused face the whole time.  The Picasso paintings were actually the least strange it seemed like, which I started to take pics of and then got violently scolded in Spanish. Um, oops!  Following this we went to the Botanical Gardens, and then beautiful park where we all slept (don’t worry Mom- we had a designated person to stay up and watch our stuff J) Went to a really fun little Marketplace that night for a cheap dinner, and walked over to a bar where met a PRECIOUS older couple that owned the bar, and gave us yummy Spanish appetizers with our drink orders (I wish I liked wine/beer but I still don’t… guess its an aquired taste?).  The woman’s name was Maria, and we came to this bar just to talk to them and hang out about 6 times throughout the couple days we were there.  We loved them!

We went to the El Prado Museum as an organized group visit the next morning, seeing a lot of Impressionist paintings (I sound so cultured, right?)  Then a few of us spent over 5 hours at Retiro Park on an absolutely beautiful day.  I got to read a lot of an incredible book I’m reading by C.S. Lewis called Screwtape Letters.  This really chill, beautiful day was one of my favorite days in Spain so far.  Had really cool and fun conversations with some people on this trip I would have otherwise never known at school.  SUCH a fun day!  Later that night we decided to go to a “Lazer Karaoke” bar we had constantly passed and kind of laughed at the name.  Unfortunately lazer tag was not part of the deal, but we had a blast belting out “Baby” by Justin Beiber and “Our Song” by Taylor Swift (in English.)  The Spaniards at the bar loved us (I mean, who wouldn’t.) But it was definitely hilarious and we stood out to say the least.

The next day, our group took a trip to Toledo (city an hour outside of Madrid), probably the most beautiful city I’ve ever seen, and is over 2000 years old.  Toured monasteries and got to shop around and eat local food. That night we came back and went to a Flamenco show with a fancy dinner included.  It was definitely a very local Madrid thing to do, and was so interesting. 

]On a deeper level, I feel like God revealed Himself the most to me through my time at Madrid.  Being a completely different culture in Europe, it’s been hard to adjust and realize that God is constant here, and that these people are His children just as much as I am, no matter how different they are from me.  I got to spend some time in a plaza one day reading and journaling.  I remember stopping and people watching (borderline stalker-ish, I know) for a few minutes and seeing an old man play his accordion up and down a row of people eating.  He was smiling, and stopping at each table for the people to acknowledge him and hopefully give him some money.  He acted jolly and carefree, yet was persistent at each table.  By the end of walking up and down, he took about a two minute break in an alley, and came back out to do the same thing all over again at the next restaurant.  This sort of thing you see every single day in Europe all over the place.  Every street and every plaza filled with people dressed in costumes, performing music, anything to receive some money.  But for some reason watching this man and realizing that he has a soul, he has a family, he had a childhood, he has a story, made it completely different.  God created this person and loves him deeply.  My heart broke that the short few minutes I watched of his life was a reality for him every day.  This is what he wakes up every day to do, this is what he lives for so that he can just survive probably.  And then you realize how many people you see passing you everyday.  So many people you simply glance at and have no idea what their story is, but God knows every detail of their life and every hair on their head, insecurities, joys, everything.  Amazed by how big our God is.  Amazed that he knows every corner of Madrid, Spain and has been present for generation and generation that has passed through it.  Maybe I’m just rambling and I’m sorry, but the reality of this was seriously was blowing my mind and I am thankful God gave me just the slightest glimpse of how big and great He is.

Thanks for reading!  Tomorrow (Monday) is a Spanish holiday so we get the day off!  Next weekend I’m heading to Rome, Italy.  Whoop!

Things I’ve learned:

1. PDA (public display of affection for you old folks), and excessive PDA at that, covers every corner of Spain (prob Europe in general.) Privacy doesn’t seems to be much of a concern. I hardly notice it any more because its so common. #cultureshock #kindofgross
2. “Tortillas” in Spain are not tortillas in America. They are a sort of omelet with egg, potatoes, and onions. They are absolutely delicious and probably one of my favorite meals here! (Tortillas de patatas specifically)
3. When there’s a giant roll on your plate when you walk into a restaurant, don’t assume it’s free.  After our meal and reading over the bill, we were pleasantly surprised to see our table charged for 9 dinner rolls at 4 EUROS A PIECE ($6).  Ouch… #notnice
4. It’s super awkward to rattle off broken Spanish when asking for directions for 10 seconds only for the person to interrupt you with “Uhh I speak English.
5. Some places charge you to go to the bathroom! Whaaaat?
6. I miss guacamole. And burgers.

Bonjour, France!

We had our first week of class last week, where we've learned about international business from our A&M professor leading the trip,  and the inner workings of the European Union from a professor at the college we're staying at- Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona (UAB).  It really has been interesting and definitely broadens my perspective when I hear "we" being referred to as the EU instead of the United States.  We had our first test today... why does school have to get in the way of everything?! (Just kidding...)

Our entire group of A&M students decided to travel to Paris the first weekend... our flight leaving at 6 AM on Thursday morning.  It seemed like a great idea at the time when we were booking the flight, so we would have 3 full days in Paris.  Only after did we learn that the metro system doesn't run that early in the morning to take us into town.  After researching multiple bus routes and other connecting forms of transportation that were the cheapest, we realized that we needed to catch the 2:03 am bus outside our hotel.  Note to self: Book flights AFTER transportation to the airport has been accounted for!  Never again will I set an alarm for 1:30 am.

But what DID make everything worth it was getting the watch the breathtakingly beautiful sky as the sun rose outside the airplane window on the flight.  (Sunrises are my FAVORITE.)  I had honestly been a little stressed/overwhelmed the past few days with adapting to a new environment, planning a trip to another country (side note: I feel like I've been forced to grow up so much in the past week learning to become a competent traveler!) and the plane ride was a beautiful reminder that the God of Katy, Texas is the same God of Barcelona, Spain and his faithfulness is steadfast and constant.  I spent the hour energized and overwhelmed by our huge God in adoration that I couldn't even sleep! One of the sweetest quiet times I've had.  I love how He romances us.

Still so much to cover so I'm gonna speed this along.  Subway system is pretty crazy in Paris, so it took awhile to get to our stop that dropped us off as close to our hotel in Gennevilliers (outside Paris on the NW side).  We tried to navigate to our hotel from the screenshot we had taken off of googlemaps (none of us use our iphone's 3G network in Europe bc its super expensive! Life is going to feel so convenient when we get back to the states!) which was supposed to be a 10 minute walk.  After walking around sketchy industrial area for over an hour, we asked sweet mechanics in a parking lot where Companile hotel was and they kindly pointed us in the opposite direction from googlemaps directions. We got to the hotel exhausted around 10:30 am, having been up since 1 pm, only for 

Later that day we took the metro into Paris and I had my first crepe at a restaurant facing the Eiffel Tower, and we watched people walk by and played "Guess the occupation." That was quite entertaining.  At night we went on the Fat Tire Bike Tour of Paris (if you're in Paris, Barcelona, Berlin, and London, DO THIS!) and I was surprised to see some aggie friends working there for a summer internship! The tour was a blast, and hit amazing spots like the Notre Dame, the Louvre, the Acadamy Francaise, yummy icecream, and a boat cruise that passed the Eiffle Tour at night (fun fact: it sparkles at night on the hour!)  And the CRAZIEST thing happened- the girl collecting our money for the tour was my pine cove counselor from 11^th grade and she knew my name.  Her name was O Deer O Deer and I flipped out.

A big group of us spend the next day at Versailles (waited in lines for over 2 hours… ouch.)  But it was totally worth it!  The palace was ridiculous.  Crazy how huge the gap was back then between this insanely extravagant place and the rest of the population living in poverty… kind of makes the revolution make more sense!  We ventured out into the gardens afterward as well as Marie Antoinette’s estate.  Ate macaroons, which are delicious! Great day but sore feet!

Spent the next day at the Louvre Museum (Mona Lisa, Napoleon’s apartments, Winged Victory, etc.) and later walked along Champs-Elysees and took pictures by the Arc de Triomph. 

At night we went to the Sacre Coeur, a beautiful cathedral that’s the tallest point in the city with an incredible view. We enjoyed an incredible dinner where I got to experience my first Ratatouille and topped it off with some Crème Brulee to end my last night in Paris with a bang.

Things I’ve learned:

• Don’t ever book a flight for 6 am. Ever.  There has to be another way.
• Immerse yourself in other’s cultures but not the French’s when it comes to hygiene.
• Football:America :: Soccer:Spain :: Rugby:France
• Tour guides with tall sticks with weird objects on the top to keep their group together are annoying and pushy and not very nice.
• CELL PHONES CAN MESS UP SUBWAY PASSES AND HOTEL KEYS... We may or may not have been locked out of our hotel room at midnight on a rainy night.  (Luckily we eventually found a phone number in an old email to call for problems after hours!) And I may or may not have jumped across subway entrance things behind people due to the inactivated card.  #rebel

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