The end of an era ...

Yes, my England days are officially over. I'm back in the USA now, and finally have a moment to close out the travel blog.
I did manage to pack my entire 3 months back into 2 suitcases and a backpack, even if I did have to sit on them to make then zipper closed. I even gave away half the stuff I brought with me and acquired in Newcastle, and I still had so much to bring home. It was basically a free-for-all with all my flatmates and friends over who got to keep my towels, sheets, school supplies, pillows, duvet, food, etc. It was pretty hilarious to watch, yet slightly disturbing. I figured since I gave away half my stuff and used up all the toiletries and such, that my suitcases would be significantly lighter on the return trip. Not so much. Luckily the weight limit from 70 to 50 pounds has been delayed until next year. Yeah, I just made it under the 70 pound mark on both cases. One was 30kg, the other 32kgs. Same exact weight as the way here. Go figure.

Anyway, my last night in Newcastle was as fun as it could be. I said goodbye to half my freinds who left for home earlier in the day, then drove out to Nando's for dinner with Graham, Natalie, Fran, and Louise. Delicious last supper. Then we headed home to continue packing and such. Since I had to leave at 4am, I saw no point in going to sleep. Everyone who was left decided to stay up late with me, they just couldn't let me leave all by myself at 4am all lonely. Natalie had to crash early since she had to work in the morning, so she said her very, very tearful goodbye early on, and gave me a card that I was instructed not to open until I left Newcastle. Go ahead and rip my heart out. Luckily, I had saved one last Ocho letter from the Loyola girls to remind me why I needed to come home. I opened the last of 7 letters, this one from Hannah (my roommate from the past two years who will be leaving to go abroad in the spring), and it made me realize that no matter how much I'll miss Newcastle, I have friends and family back home who miss me more. So back to the stay-awake-all-night-and-eat-all-my-leftover-food party. Mike and Bex stayed as late as they could, but Fran, Louise, Mark, Byoung, and Pete were with me until the bitter end. Matt came back for the last couple hours as well. With one last look at the empty bedroom before I left, I locked up and headed to the post box to meet taxi for the airport. With a crew of 6 friends carrying my luggage to the post box for me, I left Marris House for the last time. We all hugged goodbye and they watched me drive away into the night. I got a phone call halfway to the airport saying they missed me already.

The flight home was fine, and I slept through most of it. I opened the letter from Natalie during the layover in London, and she had printed out pictures of me and her, and some of our side of the flat from my final week in Newcastle. That made me really, really not want to get on that plane across the Atlantic. But, alas, I knew I had to move on at some point. I had just never intended on getting so attached to everyone I met there. I'm starting to save money now for a return trip before everyone graduates. And saving money to recover my bank account would be key right now. The currency conversion rate of over 2 dollars to 1 pound killed me - I came home with a grand total of $4.44 left in my bank account. I guess it's time to get back to work and dip into that emergency savings account. But hey, it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and I loved every minute of it!
We left Newcastle at 6:20 am, and landed in Newark, NJ at 12 noon American time. My mom and grandfather were there to welcome me home at the airport, and we chatted for the entire 4 hour ride home. It was nice to see family again, and it made me happy to be home.

So that brings me back to my life back in good old Ellicott City. I had a slew of messages from the Newcastle crew hoping I had gotten home safely, and I'm sure with email and such I'll be able to keep in touch with most of them. I had an overnight babysitting job for the day after I got home, so really I haven't been home for a full 3 days yet. I just started to unpack the massive suitcases, and I now have a good 5 loads of laundry beckoning me. Fantastic. But it's good to be home. I already have a packed schedule for this week seeing friends from home and Loyola, and also doing all the holiday baking. My mom saved all the cooking for me - hooray! I have so much to catch up on with my friends ... technically it shouldn't be any different from a regular semester away, but with the time zone difference, phone calls and IM conversations were nearly impossible. A whole semester of drama and scandal to recall all at once, sweet! O yeah, and I have the entire season of Grey's Anatomy and Desperate Housewives for me to catch up on - I've been totally out of the American entertainment loop. So with the Christmas prep in full swing, people to see, and places to go, missing Newcastle is easier than I thought. Although, I must admit I'm anxious to hear how the new flatmate who takes my place in flat 32C works out and how the rugby team is doing. Can't wait for all the gossip-filled trans-Atlantic update emails to start flowing after the holiday season!

Final day in England ...

So I sit here at 1pm ... with nothing packed yet. Maybe if I don't pack, I don't have to leave. But I know that won't work because Rachel, Jill, and I already have a taxi booked to take us to the airport at 4:15am tonight. I'll just stay up late to pack and sleep on the plane. This afternoon half of the block friends leave, so I have to say goodbye to all of them. I hate goodbyes, and this is even harder since I really don't know if I'll be seeing them again. Sure, they would love to come visit me, and I really, really want to come back to England; but the harsh reality is that even if I come back to England there's no guarantee that everyone will still be around. Life isn't fair sometimes.

But my final week here has been pretty great all things considered. Secret Santa was so much fun Tuesday night. All 16 of us from Marris House flats A, B, and C gathered in our room to exchange gifts. Everyone did great on the 10pound price limit. I was the only one who didn't know who had my name, but everyone had told me in the weeks before that my Secret Santa has put a lot of thought and effort into it. Well, it was a great gift and I was soooo close to crying when i opened it. Matt had bought be rugby ball, and over the weeks had gotten all 15 of them to sign it for me before i left. That's when it really hit home that I was leaving. But then I cheered back up and went out on the Roast Duck'd bar crawl. The only thing more crazy than 16 people exchanging gifts in one flat is getting 16 people around to ALL the bars on both routes of the bar crawl. The night was legendary to say the least. Natalie and I came back a little earlier than the rest since I had an exam the next day and she needed to do work, too.

I woke up early to study all morning, then go take the est at 2pm. The Biochem exam yesterday was INSANE! There were 3 of us taking the exam, and all of us left the exam room infuriated. At least 1/3 of the test was on information we were told that we would NOT be tested on because they cut out the last week of lectures since they took away our 4 week study period. Jerks. When I get home and am more level-headed about the whole things I'll be writing a passive-aggressive email to my professor. Oh well. The stuff that I knew on the exam, I knew well, so I should still pull off a decent grade. So, irked as we were, Cait and I headed into town for some retail therapy! Not that i have much money left, but I found the cutest dress to wear to the rugby dinner for only 5 pounds! Score! And I bought the mix CD of all the British pop/club mixes that I've been hearing all the time over here. So then I went back to the flat and got dressed up for the Rugby dinner. I met up with 6 of my favorite teammates, Hannah L, Hannah B, Becky, Sophie, Diane, and Alex to split a taxi into town to Marco Polo for dinner. It was so unusual to see both the 1st and 2nd teams dressed up in nice clothes instead of covered in mud! We had delicious food and wine, then walked down the street to Sam Jack's singing all our rugby songs as usual. It was such a perfect night with the team, but I said my sad goodbyes early so I could spend my last night with flatmates, too. After being smothered in one massive group hug, I left the team/family I've grown to love these past few months.
I got back to my flat and made the rounds of goodbyes between flats A, B, and C. Everyone will still be here today or tomorrow and will stop in again to say goodbye while I pack. I was doing fine with the goodbyes until i got to Sarah, and then the tears started. She had painted a couple of picture frames with photos from our Barcelona trip for me to take back. Leaving her will be the hardest, but I'm sure at least the two of us will keep in touch via email. I made it through Secret Santa, leaving the rugby team, and everyone else without crying. Who knows what kind of mess I'll be tonight. I never thought I'd get so attached to everyone here.

This is the last of my entries before I fly across the ocean. I have to pack my life into 2 suitcases again, and Fran, Natalie, Graham, and I are going to Nando's for dinner. I'm really excited to see my family at home, and get back to all my friends at Loyola. But I just wish there was a way to bring all my England crew with me.

Blogging is the best way to procrastinate

Seriously! I can always justify blogging instead of doing schoolwork because I know people at home are checking up on me, plus it will be a great way to relive my trip when I get home ( in 3 days, eek!)

I realized that I was so excited to write about Barcelona last night that I totally disregarded the rest of last week! An entire week of Newcastle craziness unrecorded? Shameful.
I spent all of Tuesday morning and afternoon (since it was the only day without pouring rain this week) wandering around Newcastle taking photos of all my favorite places and finishing up my holiday shopping. The city center is always bustling with holiday cheer and merriment recently, and everything is all decorated and lit up for Christmas. It's almost pleasant enough for me to forget the wind and cold - for a second anyway. Then I got a surprising email from the rugby team saying that the Lancaster game was actually still on, and that I got drafted to the 1st team again. So with that stressful piece of information in mind, i realized i had better get to studying biochem since Wednesday afternoon was shot. I took a nice, long 5 hour study break to have dinner with my rugby family. We all met up with my rugby grandmum, Kelli, at her house for my goodbye dinner. My rugby mum, Kelly, my rugby aunt, Lizzie, and rugby cousin, Lizzy were all there, and Cat and Mimi joined us for a team dinner since Kelli shares a house with Mimi and cat lives right down the block. All my favorite rugby team members in one place eating, gossiping, and chilling out (what else do girls do?). Leaving the team behind is going to be just as hard as leaving my flatmates since I spend just as much time with them. I went back to my flat late and studied biochem for a bit with Matt ... well, more like taught myself the basics of biology with his help so i could figure out what i was supposed to learn this semester. I've missed half the biochem lectures between rugby games and course schedule overlaps, so I needed some major late-night cramming.

Wednesday I wake up thinking I have a rugby game until just before I'm about to head to the pitch, only to get an email saying Lancaster isn't coming up at all. Bummer. But hey, at least I was called up to the squad initially. Plus, i actually needed all Wednesday afternoon to learn a semester's worth of biochem. And for only the 2nd time this semester I was able to make it to my Wednesday archeology lecture - shocking. As for the rest of Wednesday ... oh right, more studying 24 lectures of biochem I didn't know.

Thursday was full of nerdiness, basically. The biochem exam went surprisingly well, and I pulled off a great grade considering I just learned biology overnight. Then I still had to make though an archeology lecture, seminar, and a sociology lecutre. Just when I thought my brain was on overload, there's more. I then spent a record 5 hours in the library for the rest of the night and didn't get back to my flat until 10pm. I never go to the library. Ever. I hate libraries. But I realized that I actually had to get all the sources and semester's worth of readings that I would need to write my 4,000 word sociology final exam essay and archaeology final paper upon my return to the USA (thank goodness they aren't due until January!). So I basically rounded up all my sources and books for the papers and spent my life (and a small fortune) at the photocopier. Still cheaper than buying the books, though, and I can transport all my work back home. I'm sure the librarians thought I was nuts, but do I really care? When am I ever going to see these people again?

Friday - Monday: BARCELONA. Which still tops the list of best places I've visited here.

Today has been a crazy study session for that lovely Biochem final tomorrow. I've come down with end-of-semester-itis and I seriously can't take anymore. So I'm quitting for a while to spend the evening with my flatmates and the rest of my block for our Christmas dinner and Secret Santa exchange, then it's out in Newcastle for Roast Duck'd - the huge end of year bar crawl. I'm really bummed that I can't go crazy with everyone else, but I'll at least go out for a few hours. The biochem exam isn't until 2pm tomorrow, as long as I get a few hours of sleep and can review again in the morning I'll be fine. I'm only here once, and I'm just going to make the most of it.

As of 4pm tomorrow (ironically 24 hours from now), my academic career at Newcastle University is over. Which means throwing a huge packing party tomorrow night to have one last night of fun with my flatmates and divide up all the stuff I'm leaving here that I don't have room to bring back. Before the flat party begins, I'm going out to dinner at a great Italian restaurant near the river front, Marco Polo, for the rugby team holiday dinner. I can't believe it will be the last time I see them. I'm still in denial. Most of my flatmates and friends leave for home on Thursday, which should make Thursday night a slightly less stressful packing time. Though I already have plans to go out to eat at Nando's with Natalie, Graham, and Fran late on Thursday. I just won't sleep at all Thursday night since I have to leave at 4am to get to the airport for the Friday morning 6am flight home.

Less than 3 days left. I really don't like that. Now I'm off to cook whatever mystery food I have left in my fridge since I'm running low on time and money now. Little more biochem, some secret santa action, fun on the bar crawl, then up early in the morning to study again. Coffee is my best friend at this point.

I LOVE Spain!

Each city I visit in Europe seems to be better than the next, but Barcelona was absolutely unbelievable. If there's one country I must return to, it's Spain. Well, Spain and England. I definitely intend on making a return trip to visit everyone here after graduation and my bank account has recovered sufficiently.

The best part about Spain was that I felt so comfortable there. Granted, I haven't taken Spanish classes in a couple years, nor have I ever been particularly confident about my bi-lingual abilities. But there's nothing like being thrown into a foreign country (with a friend who speaks no Spanish at all) to make you realize just how much 12 years of Spanish classes did for you. I apparently maintained a fairly extensive vocabulary, and was able to ask for directions, order food, shop, and translate everything from menus to museum brochures for Sarah. Brilliant! I was still able to speak rapidly, too, and was complimented may times by people I spoke to on how good my Spanish was. I even remembered how to translate into the present perfect and formal command tenses! Who does that? They could place that I was speaking North American Spanish, which is a little different from the Continental version, but still pretty darn close. And for all those years I thought I would never really need Spanish.

Anyway, Sarah and I arrived in Spain early evening on Friday (we took a cheap flight at a normal time of day, surprisingly) and then hopped on the hour-long bus ride from the Girona airport to the Barcelona city center. From there we navigated the metro (both with enormous backpacks in tow) and wandered through the crowds on La Rambla to find the BCN Lofts hostel office. The reception was down a really sketchy back ally, but it was easy enough to find and the room was only a 15 minute walk away. The room was tiny, but in a really sweet apartment building. The BCN Lofts hostel has taken a bunch of apartments all around the city above shops and such and just refurbished them into bedrooms, so it was really nice. We had a tiny private room with bunkbeds and just enough room to turn around, but the place was clean witha decent kitchen and hot showers (and cheap ... 55 Euro for 3 nights within walking distance from most the major sights!). We got settled and went to take on Spain! Since it was way too late to do any tourist stuff, we explored La Rambla (the major market/touring attraction) and all the merchants and people along the way. We got ourselves (almost) lost along the side streets of shops that we all lit up with Christmas lights. The whole city was aglow with holiday decorations and it was all just so gorgeous. We walked away from the watered-down tourist version of restaurants in search of a more authentic place to eat (mainly one with only a Spanish menu and was not ridiculously overpriced). Sarah spotted a restaurant and I was able to translate the menu board outside that got us a huge pitcher of sangria, an enormous dish of paella, and dessert for 15 Euro each. Score! The sangria took us a couple hours to finish itself, and eating all the mussels and prawns and mystery seafood was certainly an interesting, but tasty, experience.

Saturday we got up around 9 ready to take on the day. Gorgeous weather. About 65 degrees, sunny, and pleasant. What a refreshing switch from England. Sarah and I were walking around in light layers, and all the locals were dressed in fluffy winter coats, hats, and boots. Funny ho we perceive the Spanish winter was summer-type weather. We got breakfast at a nice little cafe Nuria on La Rambla (neither Sarah or I function well without coffee in the morning). First stop was supposed to be La Boqueria market, which apparently was closed all weekend for a holiday (who knew?) So we headed to La Caterdral instead which was stunning, but we couldn't see all of it because the outside is under restoration, and the world's longest mass was being held at the time, so part of the inside was closed. We explored the Gothic quarter some more and seemed to run into street fairs and markets everywhere we went. Just another reason to love Spain. We found the Picasso Museum close to the Cathedral and spent a good couple of hours in there. Famished by this point, we went on another search for lunch, but couldn't find anywhere suitable for a college budget. We just kept on walking towards the Barceloneta beachfront and found a great cafe there. At this point, the sun was beginning to set on the waterfront with all the boats, hills, and palm trees in the scenery. It was absolutely beautiful. We explored and waterfront area, walked along the beach, the Christopher Columbus square, then headed out to see the plazas at night. We walked up to Plaza Espana and then to the magic fountains, which were unfortunately shut off for the winter months. No harm done, though, as we loved just exploring the city. We ended up back at La Rambla for the Saturday evening frenzy, then got handed coupons for cheap drinks at an international youth bar, so we stopped in for a break in traveling and recommendations for nightlife plans. Onward bound we were after a bit and on in search of food again. We got Spanish omelets for dinner, then headed back for a brief siesta before getting dressed to go out. Barcelona's nightlife doesn't really get started until 3am or so, and after a while of being out and since we were so exhausted from the day we headed back a little early.

Sunday was packed with activities again. We split a 10-ride metro pass to get to the sites a little further away. Another great, warm, sunny day in Barcelona, but windy as anything. We started with breakfast at the same cafe as Saturday, then headed out to the Parc Guell. It was designed by Gaudi, and it's absolutely insane. The architecture and mosaics everywhere are brilliant, and the plants are green even in winter. We spent a long time in the park, but once it started to get overcrowded we headed out to La Familia Sagrada. Another one of Gaudi's ingenious works, his cathedral still isn't completed yet. It's still under construction, and will be for a long time to come. A lot of the outside is finished (and gorgeous), but the inside is barren and full of scaffolding. It's so wild to see the work process of all the huge columns, roof, and stained glass windows being installed. Both of Gaudi's sites were definitely my favorite part of the trip. We got some great photos of everything, too, especially since Sarah's an art student and is amazing. We then went up to the Parc de Montjuic with all the intentions of going on a cable car ride over the park with a great view of the coast and city, but the cable cars weren't running due to extreme wind conditions. But we explored the park and got spectacular views of the city from the top of the hill anyway. With the day almost over and not much else to conquer in Barcelona, we went back to La Rambla with all the merchants. Then, we decided we couldn't possibly leave Spain without a proper tapas meal, so we found a great place close to our hostel (quite a nice place, really). Incredible tapas and great sangria ... what a perfect way to close out a perfect weekend.

This morning we got up early and returned the jkeys to our hostel around 7:30am. Surprisingly, none of the stores on La Rambla were open at all. But, luckily La Boqueria market, which we both so wanted to experience, was just coming to life. We saw all the fruit, fresh bread, and meat being put out on display and ready for sale. We grabbed coffee, fruit, and fresh bread for breakfast/lunch on the journey home. Then it was onto the metro, bus, and plane back to Newcastle. 2 days and 3 nights was the perfect amount of time for Barcelona. We got to see all the major tourist stuff, and still have time to relax and soak up the atmosphere. Sunny weather, great friends, and a lovely city. What a perfect weekend!

Now it's on to study for my Biochemisty that's on Wednesday afternoon. I hope to get enough done so I can relax at our block Secret Santa dinner and then go out for a little bit on the last huge Newcastle bar crawl. We'll see how it goes. Then Wednesday to celebrate the end of my exams, I'm going to the rugby team formal Christmas dinner at the nice restaurant Marco Polo in town, then I'll spend the last night with all my flatmates who are leaving on Thursday afternoon. Then Thursday will be a packing frenzy and I'll leave at 4am Friday morning for the airport to come home. 3 whole days left. Not nearly enough at all.

10 day countdown ... again

It's another stretch of the final 10 days, this time to return to the USA. I have so much left to accomplish, and I have no clue how I'll get everything done. Oh well, I guess the first thing to go will be sleep. Bring on the coffee rush!

So Saturday I hopped on the train (for just a 13.55 pound return ticket, nice!) to visit York for the day. It's only about an hour south on the train, and I got to see so much gorgeous English countryside on the way. York is just so pretty and British, and the town was all decorated for Christmas already! I spent the day wandering around the York Museum gardens, York Castle, and York Minster. The Minster is the largest Gothic cathedral in all of Northern Europe ... impressive. I spent a couple hours in there and got a free guided tour. It's so monstrous you could get lost in there. Afterwards I ambled through the shops in the Shambles, a series of alleyways with little stores where Diagon Alley in the Harry Potter movies was filmed. I found the Newgate Market and the York Christmas fair and got some holiday shopping done, too.

Sunday was a rainy day in Newcastle, thus forcing everyone in the flat to be bums and just lounge around all day. The rain actually forced me to study a bit for a huge Biochemistry exam I have on Thursday (gross) and catch up on emails.

Yesterday was ridiculously busy with 2 Biochemistry lectures and a Biochemistry seminar. Too much learning makes my head hurt. Then off to a massive rugby training session in the Baltic weather. I left the flat at 4:45, and didn't get back until 9:00. Waaayyyy too long in the cold. And, it turns out our match this Wednesday is canceled because Lancaster's team doesn't have enough players this week. Sure, training with the team is fun, but I totally would have skipped the cold if we didn't have a match this week.
And I found out yesterday that my final exam schedule has been very unpleasantly switched. i still have time to write my Sociology final essay over the break, and I take my archaeology exam when I get back to Loyola, but suddenly Biochemistry has to be taken before I leave. What!?! We were told from the beginning that we would be given the extra 4 weeks like all the other students to review, then take the exam when we got back to Loyola. Not so much anymore. The Biochemistry exam that's worth 80% of my grade has to be taken 2 days before I leave here. So much for having a fun party week before I go. At least maybe the info will be fresh in my mind since I have a test in Biochem this Thursday anyway. The Biochem department even had the nerve to send an email telling us we had 2 options: 1) return to Newcastle in January and take the exam on the Newcastle Uni campus, or 2) take the exam Dec 12 before we leave. Jerks.

So that brings me to today. I'll be teaching myself Biochemistry for a while, then (if it stops raining) touring town and finishing up some holiday shopping. My rugby family has a huge dinner planned tonight at my Rugby Grandmom's house, so that'll be a whole lot of fun.

On a really cheerful note, BARCELONA this Friday! I'm so ridiculously excited! Sarah and I started to plan our trip last night and it's going to be awesome. I can't wait!

2 weeks left ...

Wednesday was rugby day as usual. Actually, it was my last match ever with the Newcastle University 2nd team. We traveled about 3 hours by coach to Bradford to play in the nasty, cold, cloudy, misty weather. But we have such a great time on the bus that time passes quickly. Just the 18 2nd girls had the whole bus to ourselves, so it made for great chit chat and fun. I played the entire 80 minutes as usual at hooker. No, no one stepped on my dead leg, but the other one got pretty banged up. And a slight knock to the head put me on the ground for a bit, but I kept playing. No biggie. I swear I had the best game so far, and I gained a whole lot of ground in the penalties just taking the ball into contact and driving through the opposing front lines. Sure I got bashed a bit, but if you gain 20 meters for the team it's worth it. And ... I got "Forward of the Match" again. What a great way to close out the year. I might not get to play rugby again here, unless I get called up to the 1st team for their home match next week. We'll see what happens. All the girls were really sad to see me go, and we lamented on the bus for a little bit, only to cheer up and go out as usual. The theme this week was Pink. We all actually got huge matching pink T-shirts, which I promptly sliced up on the bus and wore as a dress with leggings and a cute polka-dot belt from Rome. Adorable. Sure, rugby girls are hard-core, but we sure do know how to clean up well! Put 18 girls, pink clothes, and drinks on a 3 hour bus ride and you got yourself a proper party. We met the 1st team girls out on the town when we got back, and it was great to have all of us together again. I'm just as close with the 1st girls as the 2nds, which makes everything so much fun. I think the friends I've made on the rugby team and the travels we have together will be the part I miss the most about England.

This Thursday brought a whole busy day of seminars and lectures as usual. Nothing too exciting at all, really. I then spent half the evening writing a huge archaeology essay (which happened to be due Friday by 4pm ... plenty of time, right? Hey, last time I did an archaeology project at 3am I ended up with a 97/100. Not bad at all. I work best under pressure. Plus, I can't spend all the prime social hours being studious!). Since my paper was almost done anyway, I went out with my flatmates to the infamous BluBambu. It's been sooooo long since all the flatmates went out together as a group and not separated on different sports and club pub crawls. We had a great time, plus Lauri and I can get everyone in for free since we're both on sports teams sponsored by BluBambu. Great night of Newcastle craziness.

And that just brings us to today ... I got up early to finish the archaeology paper and *shock* turned it in 2 hours before the deadline. I finally got all my muddy rugby gear washed (last loads of expensive laundry I'll do here) and just sat around icing my bruises all day. We're having just a chill pizza and movie night in hosted by my flat tonight since we're all dead from the week of shenanigans. Tomorrow I've decided to hop on the train to York, explore the town and go Christmas shopping. Then on Sunday I'll be a tourist and take pictures of Newcastle. O yeah, maybe I should work on my essays and biochemistry before exams this coming week. Plenty of time for that later. I'm just trying to squish everything I wanted to do into the last 2 weeks here. I'm really going to miss this place ... in 2 weeks, I'll be home. Weird.

Roman Holiday

My Rome trip was, in a word, FANTASTIC! There's nothing better than arriving in a foreign country only to meet up with friends who love you and can give you a personalized tour of the city. We saw anything and everything, stopping by all the sights that my sister had recommended from her studies in Rome. The best part about visiting Anna and Janine in Rome is that they're both taking history, philosophy, and theology classes there, so they know EVERYTHING about the sites in Rome. They have classes at the Forum and Colosseum instead of in a traditional classroom, and even did research papers on monuments in Rome. Anna and Janine are definitely the best tour guides ever.

Rachel and I got up insanely early (as we always do with cheap flights) to fly out of Newcastle and into London on Friday morning. We had a nice, long layover, then finally flew from London to Rome, landing about 4pm. Janine had emailed me detailed instructions of how to navigate the airport, bus terminal, and metro lines, so Rachel and I found our hostel very easily. We settled into the Pop Inn Hostel (great location, about 50 meters from the main Termini metro and bus station), then called Anna and Janine. We met Anna at the metro station around 7:30. I've never been so excited and happy to see friends. Anna took us on the metro to meet up with Janine and their friends Laura and Jess. The plan for Friday night was to visit all the favorite places Anna and Janine frequent since all the tourist stuff was already closed. We got gelato at their favorite place, Tony's Gelaterria, which is only a few minutes walk from their house (Anna and Janine go there so often that the owner knows them well by now), then stopped for a great Italian dinner at Il Caminetto (best buffalo mozzarella cheese pizza ever!). After we were stuffed with wine and pizza, we took the tram and bus to explore Trastevere by night. The Tiber riverside is gorgeous at night, and Piazza Trilussa is packed with young Italians hanging out. We wandered around and shopped a bit, then went to Anna and Jess' favorite chocolate shop for chocolate shots. Literally an shot glass molded out of chocolate filled with chocolate liqueur, whipped cream, and chocolate chips. Delicious.

Rachel and I got up early on Saturday to check out of our first hostel (yes, we switched hostels because we're so poor). We met Anna, Janine, and Laura at 8am to travel to the Vatican. Rachel and I got in line to see the Sistine Chapel and Vatican Museums while the other girls went to sit in St. Peter's square to watch the Pope ordain 23 new Cardinals. The Vatican museums and Sistine Chapel are just too stunning for words. We walked through all the galleries and Raphael rooms on the way to Michaelangelo's ceiling, and one room is just more breathtaking than the other. We left the Sistine Chapel just in time to catch the others leaving the ordination. We grabbed cannoli at Janine's favorite 24hour pastry shop, then headed out to a pizza shop for a quick lunch. At this point it's absolutely pouring down rain! Disappointing, but the rain mostly stopped by the time we had to get on the metro again. Since it wasn't raining much anymore, Janine, Anna, Rachel and I went to the Forum and Colloseum. From taking classes at the Forum, the Rome girls could tell us all about the history and what the Forum used to look like. They pointed out the Imperial Palace of Augustus, Teatro di Marcello, Temple of Apollo, and Temple of Hercules in the area. We walked down around the Forum and through to the Colloseum and our lovely tour guides told us all about the gladiator fights. It was so surreal to think about what the Forum and Colloseum used to be like so may years ago. The world is certainly a drastically different place. Afterwards we walked though Piazza Venezia (gorgeous fountains and statues like all of Rome). We headed up to the Bocca della Verita at the Santa Maria in Cosmedin church. We all did the typical tourist picture with our hand in the cracked mouth of the Bocca della Verita. We walked back up through to Piazza Barberini and near where the Anna and Janine's university program is based. Just as if our day wasn't packed enough, we all headed back to the Vatican to meet Laura and Jess to see the Apostolic Palace. The Apostolic Palace is usually not open to the public, but since the 23 Cardinals had been ordained earlier in the day, people were allowed to go inside and congratulate the new Cardinals. The line, or rather mob, outside was insane, but we got in just fine. We met the new Cardinals from Philadelphia and Iraq, then went touring around the Palace (magnificent). By the time we got out, St. Peter's was dark and all the statues of saints around the top wall and fountains were illuminated. We were close enough to our hostel, so we all went to check into our second (cheaper, and nicer) hostel of the trip and change clothes for our evening out. Since we were all famished at this point, we took the metro to Spagna to their favorite restaurant, L'Archetto Spaghetteria. So many choices of pasta, and so delicious. We had a lovely Italian meal, then headed out to see the Spanish steps. Then, the girls took us to the Fontana de Trevi. Nighttime is by far the best way to view the fountain. It's just absolutely incredible. While I was there I did the traditional wish at Trevi fountain. 3 coins (one for luck, one for love, and one for a return trip to Rome) thrown from your right hand over your left shoulder as you make a wish. We left and then literally ran down the street to catch the bus to Campo dei Fiori. It's clearly the highlight of international youth culture with lots of American exchange students enjoying the nightlife. We visited The Drunken Ship and surrounding bars in the Campo, then got gelato at Blue Ice. Finally, we all headed back to our hostel or house and caught a few hours of much-needed sleep.

Sunday morning - croissants and cappuccino make the best breakfast. Rachel and I meet the girls in the late morning and head out to Circo Massimo (Circus Maximus). There's really not much there except for a huge field that's apparently great to jog around. Then we walked over to the Baths of Caracalla. Anna did her huge research paper on the Baths of Caracalla, so she gave us an amazing detailed tour of the Baths (it was drizzling, so she had the typical tour guide red umbrella deal going on. hilarious). We all ate lunch (yeah, we all like to eat - a lot) in the area right between the Trevi Fountain and the Spanish steps. We bought really pretty Italian glass necklaces in one of the shops nearby, too. Then we went to the Pantheon, which Laura did her research paper on so we had yet another great personalized tour. Then it was onward bound back to St. Peter's, this time to go into the Basilica. At the fantastic recommendation of my sister, we went up to the top of the Copula of St. Peter's first. It's a looooong walk up really narrow and sloped spiral staircases, but it was so worth it. It's definitely the best view of Rome, and the sun was settling as we looked out over the beautiful landscape. Then we went into the San Pietro Basilica itself. Words can't describe the ornateness of the church. I'm pretty sure I stood in the middle of the Basilica in awe foe a good 15 minutes just trying to take it all in. It's places like St. Peter's that would make you never want to leave Rome. We left and got dinner at a yummy local restaurant, then went to Piazza Navona at night. We bought bottles of great Italian red wine for our nighttime walking tour of piazzas and back to Campo dei Fiori. Italy is so relaxed about everything, and I love it. Sure, walk around the street drinking wine straight from the bottle - Italy wouldn't be the same without it. Exhausted from 2 1/2 days of touring Rome by day and night, we all parted ways once more. Rachel and I went back to our hostel to sleep for just a couple hours before getting up for another early flight.

Monday was just another day of check-ins, security, and flying. Remind me to write SwissGear backpacks a thank-you note when I get back - that backpack has been the center of my life for the past 2 months. The airport security checked my bag in London, unpacking absolutely everything and wondering exactly how I fit so much stuff into a tiny bag. After 15 hours of traveling and layovers, I finally arrived back in Newcastle around 8pm Monday evening. I only missed 2 lectures (biochemistry and sociology), but I got to prep for my biochemistry lab practical in the London airport. Not to many people were around the flat, but I unpacked and got settled in once again. Then ... I got to experience fantastic British healthcare. Between walking around Rome for 3 days and flying, the massive bruise I got from being stepped on during rugby training in the mud last week had drastically increased in size and color. At the recommendation of my medic-in-training flatmate, friends in Rome, and NHS nurse helpline, I called a taxi and got myself to Newcastle General Hospital pronto. The nurse on the phone was concerned that I had still had internal bleeding or a blood clot, which is not something to mess with. Well the emergency room in Newcastle is uber-efficient, and free (nice!). I didn't have to deal with paperwork, insurance, or any of that junk, and I was seen by the doctor in about an hour. Turns out they don't think I still have internal bleeding, it's just that it's such a large area that I'll have a huge 8inch x 10inch dark purple and swollen spot on my thigh for the next 3 weeks. Guess I'll be wearing black leggings under all my skirts when I go out at night now. The nurse recommended I try tennis instead of rugby (haha, right!). Between ice, compression wraps, and pain meds, I should be fine.

Today was catching up on sleep, then the last biochemistry lab of the semester. I'm trying to get everything reorganized tonight and maybe do some work. We have another away rugby match tomorrow, and I'll be on the front lines as usual. It's our last 2nd team game of the season, and I wouldn't miss it for the world! Tomorrow's theme for the rugby social is PINK!!! I'm so excited!