Today was a bittersweet yet wonderful day. I have had the
time of my life on this trip. I have never met so many different people, I have
never lived in another country, and I’ve never even lived anywhere but home
with my parents. I have never had roommates (unless you count my sisters), I
have never lived in an apartment, I have never had to share a bathroom with so
many people. I have been to London but I didn’t experience the city, the
people, the culture the way I did this time over the course of five weeks. It
was very hard at times. I missed my family, my friends, my bed, regular food,
familiarity, just home. But it was also so amazing. I think my top five days
(if I would have to choose) would be Disneyland Paris, the Wild Wicklow Tour in
Dublin, Harry Potter/Les Mis, the day we went to St. Paul’s and the London Eye,
and today at the beach. I had never met really any of the people I came here
with. I had no friends, I had connected with a few but nowhere near
comfortable. After spending literally all my time with these people for six
weeks, I can truly say I have met some of the most amazing people. They made me
laugh, cry, think, imagine, love. They supported me, they loved me, they helped
me through the homesickness and my crazy emotional episodes, they helped me
grow into the person I am today. I have experienced more with these people than
I have with most and that friendship will never grow old. I would especially
like to thank Jena, Kasee, and Sam along with a shout out to Stephen and
Brandon (don’t feel bad if you are reading this and not getting a special
thanks or whatever – I love you all and am so blessed to have met you all!).
First of all, Jena is absolutely amazing. She is our program assistant which
obviously comes with a lot of responsibility. I could come to her with anything
– family, money, personal, or emotional problems and I know that she would help
me get through it no matter what. She was the most mature yet knew how to have
fun and enjoy the time we spent together. I am so grateful for her and for all
she did for me and our group. She is truly amazing. Next, Kasee is absolutely
incredible. At our first meeting, I felt like she was a really nice fun girl. I
was kind of a creep and messaged her on Facebook, told her I had a good feeling
about her, and asked her if she would be ok rooming together. She messaged back
and said she was just going to say the same thing! Ok seriously this girl is so
incredible. She made me laugh so hard, she experienced me at Disneyland so
there’s that haha she let me cry on her shoulder, she helped me through
problems, and we just experienced so much together. She has such a strong
testimony, I know she strengthened mine whenever we discussed spiritual
experiences and such. I mean she goes to BYU but she isn’t the typical BYU-er.
She is so beautiful and made me feel so good about myself and always made
things better with her positive attitude. I love her so much and can’t wait for
a lifetime of friendship with her. Alright Sammie! This girl kills me haha I feel
like we are so similar. She loves the Yanks so we were already tight. She
always makes me laugh. We both went through hard times but we helped each other
get through them. She is hilarious with all of her naming inanimate objects and
her “Da H!” or “Calm your swan” haha everything was more fun with Sammie
around. I love this girl and can’t wait to hang out with her at home. Ok
Stephen and Brandon. These guys are seriously the best. First of all, they are
both SO talented! Brandon has an amazing singing voice. He sounds like Josh
Groban, even looks like him, but he is also his own person and deserves
recognition for his voice, not sounding like Josh. He truly is amazing. I could
listen to him sing all day. He is one of the nicest people I have ever met. He
always keeps things positive and never has anything bad to say about anyone.
Stephen also has an incredible voice so when they sing together it’s even
better. If they sang Hallelujah to me all day, every day, that’d be great.
Stephen is so talented in so many ways. He’s hilarious, an incredible writer,
and the way he feels about his new fiancé blows me away – he is so freaking
cute with Tayler, you can tell that he loves her so much. These guys made me
feel so safe all the time. I remember in Dublin when we were eating at Eddie
Rocket’s, it was getting dark and Stephen came in and asked to walk us back to
the hostel because he was worried about us. How freaking cute is that?!? They
are incredible guys and I can’t wait to make pina coladas with Stephen’s cool
pineapple peeler and drink them in the hot tub! Everyone on this trip made me
feel welcome, loved, and happy. I truly had the time of my life on this trip. I
went to some incredible places, saw some amazing things, and experienced those
with wonderful people. These people will always hold a special place in my
heart and I can’t wait to catch back up at home.
However, I am VERY excited to be going home. I am so close
with my family and not being able to see them every day or even talk to them
every day was very hard for me. I am so grateful for them and all that they do
for me. My mom and dad are the shiz! They have always pushed traveling and
exploring the world because they know that we are here on this earth for a
reason and that we need to see, learn, and do as much as we can while we are
here. I’m so so so grateful for their help, for their support, and for their
love. I have missed my family and friends so much and can’t wait to see them!
Al and Jess, I better be getting a sign because I made you guys awesome signs…
just saying… I have loved this trip but I am ready to go home and continue on
with life. My thing throughout the whole trip was that I just wish my family
was here to see everything and experience everything with me. That was true for
most of the trip but now I miss the familiarity of my bubble in Orem, Utah and
of home. This has been a wonderful, life changing experience that I wouldn’t
change for the world.
Anyway, moving on to what happened today! We woke up at 9:00
and got ready. We had to wear our swim suits under our clothes because we were
going to the beach!!! I packed a backpack with towels and stuff we would need
then we had breakfast and headed to the Spanish Steps. We were meeting everyone
up at the Bourgesi a few hours later so we had time to wander around. We walked
around trying to find an ATM and stuff. We grabbed something to eat at
McDonalds – I just got a coke. We hung out for a bit then started the trek up
to the Bourgesi. We walked up the Spanish Steps and then ended up walking the
wrong way so we turned around. The gallery was really kind of far away and
walking uphill with a twisted ankle isn’t very fun. Also, it was freaking hot.
I don’t think I’ve sweated or been that hot my entire life. It was awful, but
hey it’s Rome! We finally got to the Gallery. Ok so I’m not the biggest art
buff but this gallery actually included Bernini’s Apollo and Daphne and The
Rape of Persephone!!! I was dying! I had learned so much about them in my
mythology classes and it was so cool to see them in person and stuff. Ah so
amazing! I walked around for a bit and checked out the other paintings and
sculptures there. Then we all got our stuff and headed back to the metro. I was
in the middle of the group and I was trying to keep up with my ankle so nobody
had to stop and wait for me and such. We got to the metro, got on, then off at
Termini. We then went to the actual train area, looked around for a bit, then
bought tickets and got on the train. We had lost Cassidy, Kasee, and Brandon
and were hoping to meet up with them at the beach. The train smelled like
giraffe’s and was so freaking hot and gross. I got to sit down most of the ride
which was nice. We got off in Sperlonga, then took a bus to the spot where it
dropped us off for the beach. We had to walk down quite a bit to get there but
we finally made it! It was so beautiful! We rented umbrellas, undressed, put
freaking sunscreen on (this is something I never do but I didn’t want to be
miserable on the plane ride home tomorrow so I put some on…) and finally made
it into the water! It was so wonderful! It was so hot outside and the water was
the perfect temperature. We floated around for a bit then we were starving so
we got out and ordered food at the little stand. I got lasagna (it was
microwaved…) and pineapple. They had sliced the pineapple into fourths then
gave me the shell and everything. Ok by far this was the best pineapple I’ve
ever had! The juice was dripping down my chin, it was so good. We finished
eating then headed back into the water. I took a ton of pictures of everyone
and we just had a wonderful time. Shelby, Sam, and I went up to the umbrella to
get some sun and these Italian guys came over and started flirting with us,
well mostly Sam and Shelby – they like the blonds. Pretty soon we had like nine
Italian guys surrounding us. They were all really nice and funny, however, not
very attractive… they were skinny and
hairy and wearing nasty speedos. It was hilarious! They told Missy that her
eyes shown bright like the sun – uh?! And then Shelby broke the news to them
that she is engaged and they said your fiancé is a lucky man, you’re so
beautiful! Haha it was so funny. We got back in the water and just played
around for a bit. Tayler started screaming something crazy flailing her arms in
the air and we finally figured out what it was – Cassidy, Brandon, and Kasee
had finally made it! We thought that something had gone wrong and they had just
turned back. Well something had gone wrong
- Cassidy’s wallet was stolen on the metro. She had 60 euros, her
license, and her cards in there. Thankfully she didn’t have her passport in
there. They went through the big ordeal trying to find the police station and
stuff but they finally made it. I felt really bad, not only for Cassidy, but
for Kasee and Brandon too. We played around for a bit and around 7:30, we had
to head back up in order to make the last bus. So we packed up, dried and
washed off, then headed back up to wear the bus picked us up. Thankfully the
sand and water had really helped my ankle so that was nice. We got up there and
got some gelato – white and milk chocolate, yum! We got on the bus, went back
to the train station, got on the train, and for some reason, it took us forever
to get back to Termini – the train was taking forever! But hey, we had a cabin
just to ourselves and we talked about boys and stuff on the way home so it was
fun to get to know everyone better and enjoy our last night together. We got on the metro and went back to the
hotel. Kasee and Sam were doing the after trip so they had to say goodbye to
everyone. We went upstairs to our room and I showered and packed. Stephen,
Tayler, Brandon, and Jena came to say goodbye and hung out for a bit. Then Shelby
and Jess came down to use our wifi haha I got all packed up and went to bed. It
was such a fun day! Yes we did have some trouble traveling and getting to the
places we needed to be but once we got there, it was amazing! Rome has rocked
and I’ve made some awesome memories. I can’t wait to go home tomorrow though!
Loves! See you tomorrow!!!
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