Postcards from Italy, Part One: Murphy's Law

No, I didn’t actually buy any postcards in Italy, that’s just the name of a relevant song that I really like. Something else I like: Italy. Actually, I love Italy. The people, the food, the language, the topography, everything. Throughout my week there I definitely came to love and appreciate the country. And now you get to hear about it. In the words of Sabriye and Natalie, that was a trip, not a vacation. Initially this was going to be one giant post, but since a) that's probably somewhat annoying for my readers and b) I've been too lazy/sick/busy with actual schoolwork to finish it and didn't want to go forever without a post, I'm just going to do part one. It was originally going to be a four-part post anyway (I might condense that into three to make it easier), so instead of posting them all as one, I'll do them separately because it seems to make more sense.

So, a bit of background to get started: I traveled with Natalie and Sabriye, but our friends Sam, Steph, and Kristen were also going to Rome for the same days as us and were on the same flight there. We spent four days in Rome, leaving by train for Florence in the afternoon. We took the train back to Rome heinously early on Wednesday for our flight, and by 5 PM we were back in Sevilla.

The trip got off to a rocky start, to say the least. On our way to the airport, Sam, who was already at the airport texted Steph who was coming with us to let us know that the flight was delayed. This seemed strange to us, since most of us are from Michigan and only used to delays due to blizzards. When we got to the airport, we discovered that the flight had been delayed from a 4:20 departure to a 6:55 one. Not ideal, but we hadn’t been planning on doing anything that first day anyway since we’d only be arriving after 7 PM. We waited around for a long time (spent watching I Love You, Man in the airport) and finally boarded the plane. Once on the plane, we waited some more until finally someone told us that they hadn’t actually diagnosed the technical problem with the plane that had initially caused the delay and they had to wait for the mechanic from Málaga to get to Sevilla, which would take over an hour. We then had to disembark from the plane and go back into the airport for further instruction. This resulted in going through security again and worrying that we wouldn’t be able to get on our flight. Needless to say everyone was freaking out a little bit. Thankfully, while we were in line for security round two, there was an announcement telling us that the problem had indeed been fixed and we’d be going to Rome that night.

In the midst of the chaos, some of us Americans were trying to stick together and figure out what was going on/what we should do, so in the process an American guy was talking to our group about what to do. As we headed to the plane, I somehow got in front of all my friends with this fellow, and he asked us where we’re from. Here’s how the conversation went down:

Random airport man whose name I later discovered was Dylan: “Where are you guys from?”
Me: “Most of us are from Michigan, but a couple are from New York. But I’m from Michigan.”
Dylan: “Oh, cool, I’m from Ohio.”
Me: “Oh. You don’t…happen to have any allegiances to any schools in Ohio, do you?” Going to give myself props here for being so civil from the get-go.
Dylan: (skeptically) “Yeah…I went to Ohio State.”
Me: “Oh. I go to Michigan. Nice to meet you.”
Dylan: “Really? Wow.” Or something like that. “What year are you?”
This is where it starts getting good.
Me: “I’m a junior.”
Dylan: “Cool. Are you ready to be done?”
Me: “Not right now, but maybe I will be by the time I’m actually finished. It’s kind of scary though.”
Dylan: “What, being done with college? That’s the best part!”
Me: “Maybe if you go to Ohio State.”

BOOM! Roasted. All he could say to that was “touché, touché” and sort of scoff while he repeated what I had just said to him. I have to be honest, I’m pretty proud of myself for that one, and that’s a story that my poor friends are going to have to hear over and over again because it’s just great. To show that I’m not completely heartless/prove that Wolverines are classy, I told him that the whole airport craziness was a good bonding experience, to which he replied that there were no hard feelings between us. Study abroad is helping me expand my horizons in so many ways. I made friends with a Buckeye during a 5-hour plane delay. And it was five hours, because the plane didn’t take off until about 9:30. We got into Rome after midnight instead of after 7 PM. But of course, this section being called Murphy’s Law and all, the universe wasn’t done with us yet…

We got to our hostel at about 1 AM, which we already knew wasn’t ideal from the Barcelona experience of getting there when everyone was asleep and having to make our beds in the dark and such, so we were already bummed about that. But when we went down to our room, we realized there were only two available beds, and three girls looking to sleep there. Problem. We went back up to the front desk to ask, and the receptionist discovered that a girl in the room had overstayed and was supposed to check out the day before. We expected that they might give us a different room for the night or something, maybe split us up and put one in another room while they figured out the situation, but instead the guy told us to come with him and we ended up getting our stuff settled as they kicked this girl out of the room at 1 in the morning. Awkward? Definitely. But they got her out, and Sab got a bed, and everything worked out, mostly.

That's the end of Part One because that's (pretty much) the end of our problems, though Murphy's Law does come back into play in Florence. You're probably wondering where all the fun stories about pasta and Michelangelo and Julius Caesar are. Don't worry, there are plenty of meals and stories about famous artists to come, and though I don't have much about Caesar, we did learn a lot about Nero and what a massive jerk he was. I just needed to cover all of the heinousness that occurred before we got to the actual trip. Tease? Maybe. But you're interested now, right? Coming up next, Part Two: The Lizzie McGuire Movie! In which I detail my jam-packed visit to Rome, the city in which the Lizzie McGuire Movie takes place, to highlight the relevance of that title. Sneak preview: lots of old stuff, lots of Catholic stuff. Lots of old Catholic stuff (i.e. the Pope). Get pumped. But who knows when it will be posted, because my friend Sarah is coming to visit me tomorrow (yay!) and the two of us are going to Paris from Wednesday until Sunday (double yay!), AND I have mountains of schoolwork to do now that exams start in about a month. Naturally. So, I promise to be working on these posts and to get everything up as soon as I can, so stay tuned.

We've Got Some Catching Up To Do

Has it been three weeks since I updated last? Yes. Do I feel bad about that? Yes. Am I going to make it up to you? Yes. Get comfortable folks, this is going to be a long one.

Part One--Help Me, Ronda: We took a day trip to Ronda with my program a few weeks ago, and if you're anything like me, you're wondering, just what exactly is IN Ronda that could be of any significance and/or relevance to my life? Well, while it may not be a huge well-known city, Ronda is actually a beautiful little town. "Quaint" is a word that comes to mind when describing it. It's topographically very interesting; it's built on a sort of rock, with a waterfall next to it, and then a bunch of hills and orchard-type plots of land and mountains in the distance. It's really a gorgeous place. Culturally notable: the bullfighting ring, which is the oldest in Spain! (Sevilla is home to the second-oldest.) Also, Ernest Hemingway and Orson Welles both spent summers in Ronda and were influenced by it, making it a part of their work. Hemingway based some of For Whom The Bell Tolls on Ronda and wrote several of his novels there. So, I guess I should've brushed up on my Hemingway before going there. Anyway, what's really important is the amazing time we had at lunch after our guided tours were over. A group of 10 of us went to a restaurant with outdoor seating overlooking the amazing view, and we got a terrace all to ourselves! It was a very slow meal, as is the case sometimes in Spain, but we were happy to enjoy some sangria and the beautiful Ronda landscape.

Pictured: Me with the awesome view from our VIP patio (my eyes are all squinty because I was still getting over a 24-hour virus)

Part Two--Vicky Cristina Barcelona: But instead of Vicky and Cristina, it was Natalie, Sabriye, and Kendra! And instead of Javier Bardem, it was nobody, which is tragic. I went to Barcelona from March 31 (well, barely) to April 3rd. I say barely because our flight left after 10 PM and we didn't get into our hostel until the wee hours of the morn when everybody else was asleep. Of course, we were happy to even have a flight. When the three of us went to check in online for our flights--the day before the trip--there was a slight issue. And by slight, I mean pretty freaking massive. Natalie was able to check in and had her itinerary and everything, but when Sabriye and I tried, nothing worked. We had also received itineraries, but we were unable to check in online. Upon actually reading an email we had gotten about our reservation, we determined that they told us they were unable to confirm the flight we'd wanted and asked if we'd like to purchase one that was slightly more. Now, we had thought this was merely another confirmation email, as it came directly after an email THAT HAD A CONFIRMATION NUMBER AND AN ITINERARY, so we thought we were fine. Safe to say we'll never make that mistake again. I'm going to thoroughly read every email I get from an airline/travel agency when I book a flight. Sabriye called the company we booked through, and they confirmed our fears: we had no flight reserved. So, we went into fix-it mode and found a new flight to book. Only about 20 euros more, not too bad. We went back to our homestay to book it since we needed our credit cards and stuff, get it all set up, and it doesn't work. It's giving us both the same error message, we have no idea why it isn't working. It was my turn to call, so I called the airline to see what the problem was, and they told me something about cleaning out the history of my browser and using Internet Explorer instead, as well as using the Irish website. After a few more frustrated attempts, we decided to go to our program center where the computers have IE to try it. FINALLY we were able to book the flight. It probably would've been exciting to buy tickets the day before leaving if we weren't so freaked out about the possibility of not getting to Barcelona.

But get there we did, and I know I use adjectives like "amazing" and "wonderful" and "awesome" a lot, but there's really no other way to describe Barcelona. I had this feeling I was going to get there and fall in love with the city, and my intuition was right. I loved it. The first day we were there, we went to see all the Gaudí architecture. If you aren't familiar with Gaudí, he's a famous Spanish architect (obviously) who is known for his quirky style. I've heard the buildings described as looking like they could've come from Dr. Seuss, and I would definitely agree with that. Wonderland popped into my mind as well, I felt a little bit like Alice wandering around Casa Mila. That was the first place we saw, an apartment building he constructed in which middle-class families used to live. From there, we went to the ultimate Gaudí piece: the Sagrada Familia, also known as simply the Gaudí church. Gaudí started it toward the end of his career and worked on it until his death in 1926. He knew it wouldn't be finished before he died, so he left behind plans and concepts for how it should be finished. There are three different facades to the church, representing different stages of Christ's life: the Nativity facade, the Passion facade, and the Resurrection facade. The Nativity facade is the one actually done by Gaudí. We went in the side door by the Passion facade, which was designed and constructed by someone else based on Gaudí's vision. They're still doing construction on the church; it won't even be finished for about another quarter century. (I wish I could take credit for knowing all this stuff on my own, but I can't. Rick Steve and his book about Spain are responsible for this history lesson. Thanks, Rick. Also, this is what I think of every time I mentally address Rick Steve. But I digress.) I'll stop boring you with technical information now and allow you to look at the pretty pictures, which are really the important part of this portion anyway. We spent two full hours there alone. We got to go up into the towers too, which was really awesome and felt kind of like part of a video game where you go up to the top of some mountain and it's all quiet because the music from the level stops when you're up so high. With that overwhelmingly nerdy comment aside, the church was really cool, and I definitely plan to go back when they finish building it.

Later that day we went to Park Güell, another Gaudí construction. It's a really amazing and beautiful place with a wonderful view of the city (look at how many adjectives I used in that sentence alone!). It's also notable because one of the America's Next Top Model season finales took place there. The runway show was through part of the park, so obviously my friends and I had to do model walks down the runway. The next day we went to the beach, a truly remarkable concept in April for someone from Michigan. We also visited Las Ramblas, a famous street market in Barcelona lined with street performers and various things to buy. We bought some fruit there for part of our dinner that night. The next day was uneventful apart from Sabriye and I running through the Barcelona airport to make sure we got to our gate in time to board. All in all, I loved Barça as much as everyone told me I would, and it's officially one of my favorite cities in the world. Also I'm a little obsessed with Gaudí now. Just a smidge.

Pictured (props to Sabriye and Natalie for these photos, they turned out way better than mine so I stole them): The rooftop of Casa Mila, my pretty friends and me with the Sagrada Familia in the background, the Nativity facade, the inside of the Sagrada Familia, Natalie and me workin' it on the Park Güell runway

Part Three--Momma Furry Takes Sevilla: The day after our return from Barcelona, a long-awaited moment came for me--being reunited with my mommy in the Sevilla airport. There were tears (entirely mine). There was joy. There was hugging. Lots of hugging. My dear mother came to visit me for a sunny and hot week in Sevilla, and we had a great time. The day she got here was pretty low-key because of her jet lag and my carryover exhaustion from the weekend, but we were able to do some fun stuff during the week. Tuesday she got to see some of Sevilla while I went to class, because I unfortunately had to go to some class while she was here. On Wednesday we went to La Carbonería, a bar where there's a flamenco show every night, so she got to see some flamenco. Beforehand we had a delicious dinner at a nearby restaurant, sitting outside and enjoying the warm weather. Thursday and Friday were the best days, I think. Thursday we had lunch at my homestay. My host mom, Ana, whom I adore and don't think gets enough well-deserved attention on my blog as she should, made a feast for my real mom, with all of the traditional Spanish foods represented: an appetizer of prawns, croquetas (little fried balls of deliciousness, ours had cod in them), and manchego cheese, then the main course of paella, gazpacho, and more of all of the appetizers. It was delicious, and seeing my two moms together was a real treat for me. She also got to meet Ana's 16-month-old grandson Israel, who is ABSOLUTELY THE CUTEST BABY I'VE EVER SEEN IN MY LIFE. Seriously, even my mom said he's the cutest besides my brother and me when we were babies, and she has to say that because she's our mom. (Although I won't lie, I was a pretty cute baby.) The interpreting was another interesting facet for me. Ana doesn't speak English, and Mom doesn't speak Spanish, so I was the go-between for the conversation. It was a nice taste of what it might be like if I choose to pursue a career in interpreting, which I've considered. It was really nice to get the two of them together and for my mom to see how I live/how spoiled I am.

Later that day we went shopping, a must-do when the Bank of Mom is in town. Sabriye came with us, and Natalie met up with us later. After some successful shopping, we went to dinner at Los Coloniales, probably our favorite tapas place in town. It's pretty cheap especially considering how much food they give you, and it's SO GOOD. My mom really enjoyed it because we knew all the best things to order and all she had to do was sit there and eat them. The whole time she was here, actually, we ate really well. The next day we went to the Plaza de España, built for the Expo of '92 in Sevilla and one of my favorite spots in the city. Also one of the new Star Wars movies was filmed there, fun fact. After that, we went to my actual favorite spot in the city, the river. We took a 1-hour cruise up and down the Guadalquivir, a really nice treat for me since it's not something I'd do on my own. Then we sat by the river for a while and just enjoyed the beautiful weather. Momma agrees, that's the place to be in Sevilla. After a somewhat hilarious dinner of a giant salad and burger (rather American, but Mom liked the experience of having a burger in Spain), we went back to the hotel. Saturday was pretty relaxed, which was good since we had to wake up at 4:30 in the morning on Sunday so she could get to the airport for her 7 AM flight. The week went by so fast, but I had a wonderful time with her, and I'm so glad she came to see me. Thanks for braving the Madrid airport for me, Mom!

Pictured: Plaza de España, me with my two mommies, view of the river/the Triana bridge from our cruise

So there's your three-week update. Was I kidding when I said it would be long? No. Is it worth reading? I think so. I wanted to make sure I posted it tonight, though, because tomorrow I leave for Italy! I'll be there for a week, in Rome and Florence specifically, and I'm sure I'll have plenty more stories and pictures for you upon my return! Ciao!