giorne tre

Friday, May 6, 2011

Oh my GOSH!

Parts of my body I never knew existed ache.

Corners of my mind I never knew I had are overwhelmed.

I had no idea what I was capable of until I came on this trip! A study abroad in Italy sounds easy, right? Right! Or else I wouldn’t have come! :)

Of all the things I’ve done in my life, challenging both physically and mentally, I have never known my limits to stretch as far as they have in the last few days.

I AM EXHAUSTED!!!

Have I said that before?? Haha!

I’m just counting on memory to convince me that I have legs and feet, because right now they are so numb that it’s just a matter of time until I start feeling phantom-limb-pains.

My mind is a Glad-bag that has been stretched to fill every last free space with something I’ve never known or cared about before. Some may call it trash, some may call it treasure… whatever it is, it’s a whole lot of facts, dates, names, and history. So much that I’m practically spewing out Early Roman word-vomit.

We were out on the town from 8 until 4 today.

We had to leave early to get on the metro before the “transportation strike” began. Apparently, it’s a pretty common occurrence here in Italy for the buses and subways to stop running for a few hours in the day to protest their crummy working conditions. They stopped running the metro from 8:30 to 1:30, so we had to bust-a-move to make sure we got out into town or we’d end up walking an asinine amount! We managed to squeeze our entire group onto the last train of the day and share very, very, intimate moments with complete and total, dirty, Italian strangers. It was a tight squeeze. Later, we saw a huge parade going down the main road of the strike. It looked more like a celebration than an act of anger. There were balloons and music and dancing. I’m starting to get the feeling that they “strike” just for a day off. Not a bad idea, yeah?

Today was the official beginning of STUDY abroad. Lectures began.

Is there any way to take the “study” out of “study abroad”?

We went back to some of the places we visited yesterday and got to spend more time there, actually go inside and explore, and sit through torturous lectures. I’m appreciative, don’t get me wrong. HELLO, I’m in Italy!!! It’s just so hard sit on a rock under a tree, sweating your eyeballs out, swatting bugs on your legs and squishing them on your paper, and trying to take notes while an Italian genius talks about things you’re not so interested in like you already know as much as he does. Can you tell I’m not a fan? I want more vacay! :)

We visited the Roman Forum, Arch of Titus, Arch of Constantine, Trajan’s Column, and the Colosseum. They are absolutely incredible pieces of architecture and I feel so small and insignificant in their huge shadows and hearing their resounding histories. It’s exciting to be a part of something so important.

After lectures and student-presentations were over, part of the group took a little side trip up to the Caphuchin Crypt, a Church of Bones. It was by far the most awe-inspiring place I have ever been. Probably the spookiest, too. It is an entire church where every wall and ceiling is decorated with the bones of the monks who died to that church after fleeing the French revolution. There are skulls, scapulas, tail-bones, pelvic bones, clavicles, arms, legs, and jaw bones in intricate patterns covering the entire church. Some are entire skeletons, but for the most part it’s a lot of bones placed in really incredible designs on the walls and ceilings. There are absolutely no pictures allowed, which I was so bummed about because it was by far my favorite place I’ve been so far, and I think it’s going to be hard to beat! It’s something you can’t fully comprehend until you’re there. And I wish I had pictures to show you a little creepy piece of how incredible and unique that experience was.

By the way, I was pooped on by a bird TWICE today! Really? Does that really happen?? What are the odds of getting pooped on even once, and I get shiz-splattered on me twice in one day!! It was hilarious the first time, but I was blowing steam the time the second batch was sliding down my face!

The first incident happened while we were sitting under a tree for our first lecture. I had killed over 237 little green bugs that were crawling all over me and survived a lizard attack in the bushes, so I thought I was hot stuff getting up and going through the museum. I ran my hand through my hair and felt something sticky, cold, wet, and slimey. I died a little bit inside!!! I looked at my hand and it was covered in bird-turd! I swallowed the throw-up and started laughing hysterically. You gotta laugh at things like that! I ran a wet-wipe through my hair, cleaned up my hand and went on with my day.

The next time happened at the end of a veeeeeery long day when we were waiting to divide up to either go back to the hotel or walk another bazillion blocks to see the bone church. (Which was sooo worth a bazillion blocks!) There were about 10 of us standing out in the end of this alley way when it sounded a felt like a huge splash of water. There were about 5 of us that screamed as we were drenched in liquid. At first, I thought someone might have tipped over a bucket from a window above us, but when we looked around, we were all covered in brown and white bird crap! FOR REAL!!!! Call me a hypochondriac, but I’m pretty sure I got in the worst. That little pecker got me good! I had a nice dollop right on the top of my head, oozing through my pony tail, on my purse, down my shirt, and on the back of my skirt.

I swear bird-crap should be like lightening… You should never be struck twice! I smell like bird crap. Every time the wind blows, I get a nice little whiff of the feces covering my hair and clothes and throw up a little bit. I had plans of coming straight home and showering, so I hope you all feel downright flattered that I put off showering to tell you all about it. I SMELL SO BAD!!! Hahahahahahaha. Only in Roma!!!

It’s such a fun trip! So many pictures, memories, laughs, experiences, and new friends. And a hell of a lot of bird-poop!

Love to you all!

Wit