You always appreciate things more when you are put in uncomfortable (in this case, wet) situations. This weekend I learned how much I love London by experiencing a city that contrasts it in so many ways, language being one of the biggest differences. My weekend in Rome was undoubtedly a memorable one.

After discovering the tube wasn't going to open when we needed to use it due to Easter holiday repairs, we had to find different routes. We ended up taking the bus to Heathrow for only 90pence. While on it we finally encountered some 'real' British characters. One jolly, talkative old man was our source of entertainment on the hour long bus ride in addition to a cute little old woman. Once at the airport we had plenty of time to walk back and forth a good number of times before finally deciding where and what to eat. We were shocked and pleased at how smoothly the trip was going (the bus, plane, train) and we easily met up with Beth, Keri, & Alyssa at the Termini Station in Rome. However, we were also greeted by rain. Arriving at the hostel, we were initially put off by it but grew to become accustomed. Sara Shea and Jen had arrived moments before us! The rooms worked out well; we had two to choose from where all 9 of us could hang out together. Later that evening we walked to the Coliseum. Literally, it just appears amid the city's buildings. Grabbing pizza and momentarily escaping the rain we quickly ate and headed to try and find Fr. Denning, the Stonehill representative, at the Arch of Constantine. Instead of finding him and other Stonehill students, we found rain, puddles, and more rain. We stayed for the first couple stations (which were different from the ones we normally head during Lent) and to see the Pope before surrendering to the rain and stopping for gelato on our way back to the hostel. On Sunday we learned he arrived late and just stayed for the first station because he was already soaked! I guess we did a good job on sticking it out a bit longer! Additionally, I just received an email that my homestay family from Worcester was also in Rome for the weekend! What a coincidence. It would have been crazy if we had seen each other considering we didn’t know each other was going.

Saturday we decided to give the Coliseum another chance. Our hostel was in a Roman Chinatown but extremely close to the Termini Station and just under 2 miles from the Coliseum! After getting inside and through security, we took the traditional tourist photos and Beth and I had a gladiator style umbrella fight! Since it was raining practically the whole weekend, we needed to make a joke of it sometimes! Before heading to the Metro we walked through part of the vast Roman Forum and the ruins. Seeing the Arch of Titus and Coliseum from other angles, we were literally in the middle of a huge piece of Roman history. Heading to the Vatican we had every intention to seeing the Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel—after all, it is an art history lover’s dream. Much to our extreme dismay the line wrapped around half of the outside of the Vatican Wall surrounding the world’s smallest country. After standing in line for an hour and grabbing some pizza for lunch we accepted the fact that the line wouldn’t move up enough to allow us admittance and even if it did we would be rushed due to closing hours. Resigning to the truth that I wouldn’t see the Sistine Chapel on this trip to Italy I wanted to make sure we didn’t waste the rest of the day and got to see some other sights. After some shopping and combining groups with other Jefferson girls, we left St. Peter’s Square for the day. Trudging through the rain, Beth and I the copilot map readers, lead the ever growing group to the Pantheon. I think I was more excited about this than everyone else due to my art history class. Originally, the Pantheon had multiple temples to different gods inside, but as a whole it is a Christian Church. The coffered ceiling and Italian frescos were amazing let alone the fact that it housed Raphael’s tomb. Our next stop, before returning to the hostel for the night was the Trevi Fountain. Greeted by more downpours, I made my way to the front to make my wishes. The first coin is said to be for a speedy return to Rome and the second, to fall in love. Without knowing this before hand, I wished twice before having to pretend to wish again to achieve the perfect photo (since the memory card ran out and it was switched off!) Back at the hostel we said our Easter prayers for a dry day…

Buona Pasqua! Early Easter morning we were greeted with a dry sky! Making our way to meet Fr. Denning to get out tickets into the Vatican we saw the Square without any one in it. The Guards were still walking the bomb sniffing dogs from rubbish bin to rubbish bin. To our amazement, we didn’t have to stand for Mass but got seats in the 15/16th rows! We were so close and had such a great view that we couldn’t even see the dome of the Basilica from out seats! And to top it off, the sun came out! We thought it was going to be a great day with wonderful weather. But, no such luck. Ten minutes before Mass started, the light rain came. As the Swiss Guard parade started, it fell harder and harder. Our once fantastic view became blocked with thousands of umbrellas. Throughout Mass, the rain didn’t let up. Thunder, lightening, and torrential downpours caused the Pope to skip his homily and make this Easter Mass probably one of the shortest Vatican Masses. After wadding through a river to receive Communion we waited for the final blessing and Easter wish in over 60 languages. Fighting the downpours to find the restaurant for Stonehill’s dinner, we fought the crowds to escape inside. Every article of clothing I was wearing was drenched; not a spot of it remained dry. Enjoying our meal with over 40 other Stonehill students but eagerly waiting to get back to the hostel and change, we ate our fill while seeing the sun peak out of the clouds. Of course the rain stops once we are inside and already soaked! Getting of the Metro and walking up the steps I jokingly said I would cry if it starts to rain again. Only one step further and I felt the drips beginning to fall! Roman weather and I were not on very good terms with each other. Back at the hostel we rested, got warm, made some amazing shadow puppets, and decided on the next plan of action: to see the Trevi Fountain at night, get gelato, and find Easter candy! A small pizza shop was our first stop for dinner. My slices of pizza, one with broccoli and the other with zucchini, were absolutely delicious! As authentic Italian pizza with no tomato sauce—it was heaven! Then I got a canola and gelato, where I discovered cream caramel was my favorite flavor among different samplings of Baci and Nutella flavored and chocolate chip. On our way back, we stopped for candy to make our Easter bag, not basket! Of course we had to get chocolate. We picked up Baci, a Perugian chocolate with hazelnut flavoring, thanks to Alyssa’s expertise and previous sharing of the delicious treat! Back in the room we passed the Baci love notes around (mine was possibly the most awkward/worst love note ever) and ate our other candy while enjoying our last night as the big group.

Monday, the majority of the girls headed to their respective destinations, whether it was their home for the semester after a week of traveling or their first stop of beginning of their spring break. Only Chm and I had the morning and early afternoon to explore some more. Thankfully, the sun peaked through the cloud cover! Up until that point, Rome had been a good trip but we weren't too keen on a swift return. Monday, however, changed out perspective. There were a few drops when we arrived at the Spanish Steps but walking to the Trevi Fountain we became even a little bit warm in our coats! We loved that area because of the fountain, shops and of course, the food! Returning to the same pizza place as the night before, this time we tried a piece with tomato, mozzarella, basil and paprika. Delicious. After some shopping and digesting we returned to our favorite gelato place for a couple more scoops. With time to spare before we had to catch the train (which we still had our original ticket for because we didn’t know we had to verify it ourselves) to the Fiumicino Aeroporto we chose a metro stop from the map and decided to explore. We stumbled upon the Piazza della Repubblica and the Santa Maria degli Angeli Basilica. After exploring inside, we learned Michelangelo had a large influence on the original design and conversion of the ancient Roman baths into the Basilica! We didn’t get to see the Sistene Chapel, but because of some spontaneous exploring, we did see some of his work! The basilica was beautiful. There were frescos, vaulted ceilings, coffered ceilings, and a sun dial. I was searching all over for Pisces, silly me didn’t think to just look for the sun since my birthday was only a few weeks ago! During our exploring and shopping we also experienced some of the Italian attitude. Not surprisingly, I felt more of it considering people were more friendly with me over Chm due to my dark hair and her blonde hair. People that were rude to her were friendly with me. Odd how much your hair color causes people to act. It should be interesting traveling to Spain and Greece, predominately dark featured countries, with blondes!

Seeing all of the historical ruins and art pieces was surreal, as was most of Rome and our seeing the Pope. In general it looks like any city looks with gray clouds covering the sky and graffiti marked on every free surface. However, the amount of ancient history that is embedded in a good majority of the buildings and areas is simply incredible. It took me until the weekend was over, and the sun cam out, to realize this (due to my preoccupation with the rain and being constantly wet) but thankfully it ended on a good note. One which made me want to get back to Italy to see the art history of all the major cities and just experience Venice (a city most of my friends have already visited). The Cliffs of Moher and Venice seem to be my holy grail of travel locations—so close, yet just out of reach.

Traveling with such a large group is bittersweet. It is incredible to be surrounded with a multitude of your best friends, but at time it gets to be stressful. We want to all be together but agreeing and feasibly walking together is extremely difficult. One wants to do one thing, another group something else. The balance is a hard thing to achieve. However, I think we did a pretty good job considering the wet and exhausting circumstances.

The journey home was much longer than getting there due to delays and long customs lines. We made our way back to home sweet London where I spent the night at Chm’s flat since the tube was closing. Up early and back to Harrow I went to one class and had the second cancelled! It was the perfect opportunity for a well deserved nap and some necessary laundry! Yesterday I toured the BBC’s television center, heard the word ‘tele’ instead of television far too much, and saw some studios! After trying to catch up on sleep this week, I’m once again off this weekend to Edinburgh, Scotland to visit a Stonehill friend. Next week, I’ll get back to the regular routine of grocery shopping and paper writing while experiencing my last week of actual lectures in the first week of April! Ciao Italia! It’s good to be back in the UK.

Attention: Whirlwind March is in full swing. Chaos and fun times whiz past.

Fr. Cregan, the President of Stonehill took us out to diner on the 8th. Most of the London interns and one other study abroad student besides myself met at Wagamama’s for an all expenses paid meal! It was nice to hear some Stonehill news and just hear about other people’s experiences thus far. Later that night Chm and I started planning our Spanish and French adventure. I can’t wait to have some warmer weather!

Amid the preparations for my travels, I celebrated my 21st birthday in a country where it essentially doesn’t matter. Chm and her flatmates took me out to dinner, paid for my meal and my first legal pint (if I was back in the US that is)! Dinner was great although the pub, sadly, didn’t have any fun drinks. Back at her flat I made my wish and blew out my birthday candles Mom brought the previous week. I had a full day of class so the night was short but relaxing with a good group…although, it was nothing in comparison to celebrating it at home with Jefferson girls. Thankfully, I only had to wait two more days to see some of them!

Going back to Galway essentially felt like going to another home. For one, I recognized the streets and little shopping areas from my trip there with Chapel Choir, and two, it was like I was living in Jefferson with some of my best friends for another weekend!

Thursday night, I traveled with Chm and Robert, a fellow Harrow student, on a train to the Gatwick Airport, on a plane to Shannon and then on a bus to Galway arriving at 2am on the dot! Robert was forewarned that it would be a weekend of Stonehill reunions and a lot of over excited girls who have been living in Europe without their best friends for about two and a half months now. The moment we stepped off the bus, Mara and Alyssa greeted us and the catch up session never paused. Going back to Mara’s home at Gort na Coiribe, we stayed up into all hours of the night just catching up and eating delicious birthday brownies!

Friday I was quickly reminded of some of the luxuries I take for granted…heat and warm showers! In Galway, both are tempermental, just like the weather. Chm, Alyssa, Robert, Mara and I headed into town for lunch. We went to McSwiggans. After walking up the steps I realized it was the very pub I ate a delicious (and hilarious) meal with Beth, Jess, Mark, and Micah when we were in Ireland my freshman year. It brought back some great memories. We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around town and to Salt Hill all while fighting the vicious wind and rain. Apparently I should have packed more than one pair of jeans and sneakers! We had a very special tour guide – a black dog that followed and lead us the entire walk by the Galway Bay. After hiding inside at the Quays for some tea to warm up we headed to the store and Mara’s to eat dinner and reunite with some other Stonehill visitors. At night we went back to the Quays and had a full out Stonehill reunion. Just about every Stonehill student studying in Galway in addition to all their weekend guests was upstairs at the pub! And to make the night even better, Beth finally arrived!

Sadly, the weather Saturday wasn’t to our liking. I had wanted to go on a bus trip to see the Cliffs of Moher since it was too foggy and windy to see them freshman year but once again the same thing happened. However, it was a very relaxing day hanging out with some of the Jefferson girls. We walked back into town for some shopping, got a tour of Mara and Kristen’s university—NIU Galway, went inside the Cathedral where we sang two years ago, and managed to escape the wind for the day. It was almost surreal walking around the Galway Cathedral. So much has happened in those two years yet it felt like I was singing upstairs in the choir loft just yesterday. If only a handful of the chapel choir kids were there…then, it would have been perfect. Back at Gort na Coiribe, we made tacos for dinner! Mmm! I don’t think that I can ever get sick of tacos and when other people cook them for you—even better! Later that night we headed to a pub to hang out and celebrate St. Patrick’s day (a little early) and my birthday (a little late)! At the Living Room I got what I would consider an amazing birthday drink. It was called mint chocolate chip cookies, consisting of ice cream and loads of chocolate, it tasted like heaven! Hanging out with so many friends from home was a great way to celebrate the end of my birthday week. Having people that you know and trust surrounding you makes all the difference in the world.

Sunday came all too soon. Alyssa had to leave really early for an entire day of traveling back to Italy. Thankfully London is so close we didn’t need to say goodbye until 4 o’clock. In the morning, Beth and I headed back to the Cathedral for Palm Sunday Mass. Ireland palms aren’t like American ones; they are more like Christmas trees. Before meeting everyone else for lunch, Beth and I did a bit of shopping and reminiscing. We both bought woolen booties to match our warm mittens! Walking around to find places from our last visit, we stumbled upon the Eddie Rockets that served fries really late, the barber shop where Tim got his hair cut, the great dinner pub, the Whole in the Wall, Eyre Square (which is no longer under construction and now looks great!), and the Victoria hotel where the chapel choir invasion started. We ended our stroll at the Kings Head where we met up with everyone else for lunch. After our meal and a lot of laughing, we had to say goodbye before heading to the bus station to begin our journey back to London.

Monday, well, Monday was an incredibly stressful day. I tried to contact my group for our park art project but no one was responding. It wasn’t until an entire day was wasted and it was 10:30 at night that I actually met up with the other girl in my group. The three boys, well, they were off for St. Patrick’s Day (ironic because they aren’t even Irish) and did nothing to help on the project. Starting at 10:30pm and ending at 3am, needless to say I was quite annoyed and upset with the entire group situation. In the morning after getting up early to write my speal for the for the 10am-5pm full day critique, two of the boys showed up but the third left before we even presented. I was more than annoyed but relieved we presented before lunch so I didn’t have to stress out during our break. Since there are only two Americans in that class, I probably rambled so fast they were confused with my accent but oh well. At least I knew what I was talking about in comparison with the others. All in all, group projects are never a good idea and should be illegal.

Last weekend was such a tease—seeing everyone for such a short time. I knew it was going to be a stressful week ahead and was counting down the days until we were once again reunited (with even more Jefferson girls this time) in Rome. So, now I’m off to eat yet another meal of pasta and study Kerry’s quick guide to the Italian language. Once I remember how to say ‘where is the bathroom’ and ‘how much does it cost,’ I think I’ll somehow be able to find my way through an Italian weekend.

You know how when you are busy and enjoying yourself the time passes like the speed of light. Well, that is how this past week was.

Thursday, Mom and Dad arrived in London! With no napping and going to bed at a normal time in London hours, I was determined to get rid of their jetlag the first day! I quickly showed them the fast paced city life, whizzing them from Trafalgar Square and their first view of Big Ben, to Leicester Square and Piccadilly Circus, and then over by Goodge Street for dinner. After all that walking and climbing all those stairs, they were ready to collapse and hit the sack.

The next day we rode one of those touristy buses all over the city seeing the key London sights. We hopped off at the Tower Bridge where we went into the Tower of London and on a tour with a Beefeater. Sadly, it was horribly cold, rainy, and windy so we tried to quickly escape into the different towers. We saw the beautiful Crown Jewels and the six ravens that live at the Tower. It is said that if all the ravens are gone from the Tower, it and England will fall. So, as part of the superstition, six ravens with clipped wings are fed meat and looked after at the Tower. And don’t worry, they have back up raven in case on dies or somehow gets away.

On Saturday, after we visited Harrods food hall and Borough Market, to get some delicious cheesecake and hot cider, Mom and Dad finished up the bus tour along with the complementary river cruise. During that time I watched the London Harlequins versus Gloucester rugby match at the Twickenham Stadium. Those Stonehill rugby girls taught me well seeing as I understood what was happening. However, men's rugby seems to kick the ball much more than the girls. During the last four minutes, the Quins pushed through with one more try making the final score 30-28. Once back in the city with my parents we headed to a local pub for dinner and a slice of Sunday roast...just one day early.

Keeping with the trend, Sunday was a jam packed day as well. We walked through Green Park to get to Buckingham Palace in time for the changing of the guards. Then they went on the exclusive tour of the Metropolitan line up to Northwick Park and good ole Harrow. Swapping clothes and filling my shelf with food, we stayed in my tiny room for a bit before heading back to eat. After attending mass at Westminster Cathedral we took at stroll down to the Thames to see Big Ben and the Eye lit up at night. I had all these photos idealized in my head but my camera was being temperamental and I wouldn’t seem to correctly compensate for the light/darkness. Good thing I'll have plenty more opportunities to go down there. As an extra surprise the British version of "Mummy's Day" takes place in March instead of May, so it was nice Mom was here for that.

Monday was shopping day! Walking up and down Oxford Street, mom and I popped in and out of stores. Later in the afternoon after resting up we headed down by the Thames to visit the new Globe Theatre. Mistakenly, we got off the bus at the wrong stop and had a pretty long stroll to the Millennium Bridge, but we finally made it! Once inside, we saw the entirely hand crafted theatre built in the style of the theatres that Shakespeare himself had intended his plays to be performed in. The Globe has the only thatched roof in central London due to the Great Fire and resulting precautions. We walked up into the different tiers and learned the different prices of the seats. To stand during the performance it only cost a penny in Shakespeare’s time; today it costs 5 pounds. The most expensive seat back then was on stage and cost 6 pence. Today prices go up to 40 something pounds depending on the location. Maybe in the spring I can see a show there. Standing for 5 pounds with groundlings doesn’t sound too bad to me!

While I was busy with classes on Tuesday, Mom and Dad took the bus to Oxford. Later in the evening, after I returned from the park with my art project group, we met at Leicester Square for dinner and a show. The History Boys continued their Oxford themed day. I enjoyed the show although at some points I wish I understood more about the British jokes and French language that would pop up every so often. Overall it was refreshing to see a straight play instead of a musical all the time.

It was great getting to my class in the city on Wednesday after only a 10 minutes tube ride versus 45 plus minutes! After class and a quick bite to eat with Mom and Dad I headed to the Emirates Stadium for a tour. Arsenal, the London football team, plays here. We were guided though the directors box, stands, locker room, and players’ tunnel onto pitch level. The whole afternoon made me wish I knew more about the different clubs here. I want to see a match and get a jersey, but what team, let alone what player to follow is mind boggling. For dinner, we tested some authentic English cuisine along with Chm.

Thursday was bittersweet. I knew it was exactly one week until I would be reuniting with Stonehill girls in Galway, but it was my last day with Mom and Dad. Switching suitcases and traveling on the tube with luggage is easier said than done. Thankfully, I made it back to the hotel after class at Harrow, bags and all. After resting most of the afternoon we ate at Hard Rock Café, the first location of the chain of restaurants. Chicken tenders and fajitas never tasted so good! Mom even got her black cab ride back to the hotel because we were too stuffed to walk another step. Then it was my last night of non spring poking mattresses before my visitors departed for home. All in all, it was a fantastic week filled with birthday cupcakes, eating out, and visiting touristy places that I had yet to see! For now, its back to the grind before the whirlwind of March disappears from future to past within the blink of an eye.