Rome - still retroactively

I'm ridiculous. I did nothing for about a month and I still couldn't manage to keep up on this. And now that I actually have things to do, of course I'm going to procrastinate and update.

Italy. I was ridiculously tired, obviously. I passed out on the coach almost immediately, but woke up when Kingsley got on the PA and screamed about how we were supposed to get off the coach about an hour before we even got to Heathrow. Then, once we disembarked, we had to listen to a speech about how to do passport check-in after months of traveling in Europe. Annoyance. I passed out sitting up in a chair. Luckily I was surrounded by strapping boys that hopefully would have fought for me had someone attempted to mug me. Meaning Daniel and Waner so maybe not. Anyway, the flight was fine, I sat by Cesilie and we talked about how crappy Politics is and how Ripple almost made her throw up.

It was a real fiasco getting off the bus in Rome, we blocked traffic and got honked at. The hotel. OH MY LORD IN HEAVEN Alex and I were in a renovated closet. The beds were cots that were an inch apart. A creepy picture of Mona Lisa was on the wall. The ceiling was partially open and you could see the duct work. There was no shower; however in the bathroom there was a shower head and a drain on the floor, so you could pee ands shower at the same time. The boys' room was AWESOME (by comparison), so I showered in there. Oh, and on the second morning Alex's bed collapsed.

Rome itself was fantastic though. The first night we bought wine and watched Superbad because it was pretty late by the time we got there. The next day we went to Vatican City, St. Peter's Basilica, the Vatican Museum . . . I saw the Sistine Chapel and took illegal photos in there! Yes, that makes me a badass, in case you were wondering. We then made our way to the Spanish Steps - me being uneducated I don't really know why they are important. However, they are beautiful. And full of men dressed up in Roman warrior costumes asking 10 Euro for a photo with them. We made our way to the Trevi Fountain, ate gelato, and made our way back to the hotel to get ready for the Colosseum Pub Crawl. (Yes, I went on the Colosseum Pub Crawl before I even went to the Colosseum.)

That was awesome. I wore the purple tights, so of course it was a great night. 20 Euro got us a t-shirt, free drinks for an hour at the first bar, pizza, and a shot at every subsequent bar. Honestly, the T-shirt was the best part. I love it so much. Anyway, we met some Australians and Andy got some Australian ass. I was pretty drunk by the time we left that place, and at the second place I had the shot and two beers so I was fairly incoherent. However, I went over the edge when I took my first ever shot of absinthe. Needless to say, I do not remember the rest of the night. I vaguely remember Alex getting on KB's shoulders as we walked to another bar, crowding on the bus, and me yelling "I'm a badass" about 25 times. I don't think I was really that sloppy, just incapable of knowing what I was doing. I woke up in my bed in pajamas and I had brushed my teeth and put my hair up, so at least while I am blackout drunk I still have excellent personal hygiene skills.

The next morning I found out that Andy made out with the Australian chick for about an hour and got so drunk he started throwing up, so Chris and Mandie took care of him. I guess he almost puked in a cab and the cab driver pushed him out. And then he locked himself in the bathroom and they had to get the manager of the hotel to come and get him out. And then he walked out of the bathroom at about 4am and said, "Hey guys, I thought we were going to party tonight?" to which Chris yelled back, "ANDY THE PARTY ENDED THREE HOURS AGO!!"

The next morning, surprisingly, I felt fine. We went to the Colosseum which was so great. We hung out there and just talked for about two hours, it was so crazy to think of everything that had happened there. There are lots of cats that live there, and if I was a cat I can't think of a better place to live than the Colosseum. Besides maybe with me. After the Colosseum we made our way to the Palatino which was, again, gorgeous. There were some great views of the city. We signed a lime and threw it down into the ruins for some reasons. We just wanted to leave our mark.

More gelato as we made our way to the Pantheon. That was beautiful. Daniel fell asleep there cuddling the Marmot, it was precious. If I remember correctly, we took it easy that night since we were leaving for Florence in the AM.

Harlaxton Wrap-Up and on to Italy

The last full week at Harlaxton was super fun but extremely bittersweet. The last three weeks were almost painful, because we didn't travel and just hung out with each other at the Manor, knowing we only had a limited time left to be with each other. The finals stress added to our sense of panic, on top of which we had to pack up our entire lives, throw stuff out, figure out what we were taking to Italy, etc.

Did I mention that I played volleyball? I was also THE BOMB. Not really. But I was a defensive specialist and played quite a bit. We played in a PRISON. Yes. A prison. Best anecdote from England, I think. Anne called it 'Murderball'. I did not get shanked, which was amazing. Anyway we had our first and only home game that week on Monday.

There's me, #4 with the matching blue shorts. I didn't plan that. They were the longest shorts I brought, my shirt was so long. They gave me a large and the boys had mediums. Assholes. We won that game though, so that was cool.

I spent some time studying for finals but I learned a valuable lesson: if you pay attention in class you don't have to study so much. I know, weird. British Studies was easy, for some reason I just retained that information so well. Still do, actually, I was just explaining to someone the other day how Wales managed to preserve their own culture even though Edward I pretty much spit and stomped on them. He built a kickass castle though, so I still respect him even though he shit on my people. I didn't study for politics, rather I used my British Studies knowledge of the Glorious and Industrial Revolutions to pass that. History kicked my ass but I think I still ended up with a B overall.

Hmm, what else? Oh, Katie and I got to go on our date with the professors. It was baller. We crammed into Phil's little hatchback (shocker, a Brit owns a hatchback . . . ) and drove up to The Greg since it was raining. I ordered a beer and cheeseburger and was judged for my poor taste in food, but weird sounding fish and chicken with undistinguishable sauce was not cutting it. Plus I'm the world's pickiest eater. And the burger was awesome, I got a ton of chips and everyone was jealous. So I won. We sat there and talked about the most random stuff, about how I want a castle but they think I would be a dictator, Katie was talking about Ripple and snot and I almost threw up, we asked Phil and DG what they think when they read really stupid essays, Walser told us some crazy stories I can't remember . . . and Kylie McNeil's birthday party was there. Corey got really wasted and was lying on the ground outside even after Heather had told him not to go out that night because he was drunk at about 5:00, so Ed (who was at Kylie's party) came and got my three dates to help him stand Corey up and send him home somehow. Anyway it was a fun night, we walked back to the manor and the moon was full and bright and fog was rolling over the meadows and I was freaking Katie out by telling her how I wanted to be haunted. I feel like I was judged about 5 million times that night but it was hilarious so I didn't care.

The Valedictory ceremony was weird. Kingsley said "Welcome, students, faculty, and staff of William Jewell College." Hey bud, you haven't worked there in about 15 years. Plus, it was held in the Harlaxton Village Church, which is pretty but since it was built in about 1172 it's absolutely frigid. I could see my breath. I wore a coat and scarf the whole time. We all got our writs of achievement and then headed back to our house for a grand celebratory dinner. Anne, Sara and I got stuck at an . . . interesting table. Kingsley kept yelling at us to shut up, but they gave a bunch of college kids wine. Honestly, what were you expecting? I didn't win the fricking essay award even though mine was awesome. SHS won. Bleh. I held a plate of cheesecake in front of my chest for about 10 minutes to stave off wandering eyes. I'm all for people checking out my goodies, but not creepers. I high fived all the faculty but Ed blew me off. Bitch. Then we had to file out into the Great Hall and Anne, Sara and I walked out first all by ourselves and then all the faculty had lined up and were applauding for us . . . only we were by ourselves for an awkward 10 seconds. I felt so special and loved.

That night we went out for Kelsey's birthday, which was great. A homeless guy at the club was flipping us off and talking to an imaginary friend. He grabbed Kelsey's ass but she didn't even freak out. We danced (on a pole) and drank a lot because Anne had a 50GBP gift certificate.

Umm can you say classy? At least I'm pretty sure the homeless schizo liked it. Tequila, jager bombs, beer, fruity girl drink, you name it, I drank it. I wasn't wearing heels though, so I was good. And the sugary girl drink didn't make me sick. WIN.