The Best Days of Our Lives

A song came on my ipod in the middle of one of my "adventures" that sums up this trip quite well. the chorus:
"i guess when it comes down to it being grown up isnt half as fun as growing up

these are the best days of our lives

the only thing that matters is just following your heart and eventually you'll finally get it right"

In the past few days i have had lots of things happen that make life interesting and it is so true that as my dad says, there is "never a dull moment!". For example, so far in paris alone, i have walked home at like two in the morning because of train issues, walked for a day with only one heel on my new pair of yellow high heels, and realized that there is dried hairspray that soaked some of my clothes and then hardened them into stiff little lumps :) but these events make life exciting, and give me awesome stories to tell everyone. and the "never a dull moment" aspect of life keeps me laughing all the time :) when things go so wrong it is really quite funny. i love this trip! :)

Saint Chapelle! I only have a billion pictures

with the eiffel tower, but this one is funny :)

and this is the painting that i presented on in the Louvre, but this picture doesn't do it justice at all. the presentation was fun to give, and it went pretty well i think.

au revoire!

Shortest Post Ever

Hey everyone!
So I have one week left on this trip as of tomorrow!! Ack! I am so torn because I am so excited to come back to see my family and friends, but I don't want this experience to be over! I wish I could post pictures, but that will have to happen later.
So far in Paris I have spent a day in the Louvre which was amazing, and I only saw half of what I want to see (I'm going back before we leave) and I've been to the top of the Eiffel tower, and the top of the Arc de Triumph, and I just spent the day in Versailles. (Don't worry Audrey, I took lots of pictures just for you). Crepes are amazing, and the bread here is even better :) I had bread and water for breakfast this morning, and if you think that sounds drab, you've never had good french bread :) It was amazing!
Send me emails because I am missing home! Got to run! Places to go, and more weird Europeans to see and sneakily take picutres of! hahaha people watching is the best :)
If I could spell goodbye in french i would say it. :) i will say it in spanish - its okay though because I get my languages confused now sometimes anyway
Adios amigos!

Home Away from Home

A bunch of us girls went to the temple and did baptisms for the dead yesterday, and it was such an awesome experience! I seriously felt like I was home. It was so nice. I haven't felt that good in awhile. None of us wanted to leave. I would have loved to just sit in there after we were done and just chill. One of the members of the temple presidency spoke to us before we started which was awesome, and it was so nice to be there with other members of the church from Spain, and to hear everything in Spanish. I love the temple, and we are already planning on going again in England :) I can't wait!

Hola!

So I am in Spain now! That is the only consolation for leaving Italy. I loved that country!!! I am so living in Rome someday! And don't worry I already have my return trip before that planned out in detail in my head. It is going to be amazing. Anyone who wants to come with me, start saving your pennies now so you can come have the time of your life. The more the merrier, as my wonderful group of 25 girls makes obvious. I love all of them! There is always someone to talk to and hang out with. Its great :) We have a lot of fun on our adventures. I have pictures to post, so I will get to it.

This was in the piazza in front of Milan's duomo. Some guy grabbed my hand and shoved corn into it, and the pidgeons swarmed! It was funny, but I had already held a pidgeon in venice and didn't really asked to be pooped on at that time. the stranger then had the nerve to ask for money to be paid for the "service" he forced upon me... needless to say, I didn't give him a penny :) good pictures though!

This was from the one day that we had in Barcelona. I really liked the city and thought it was beautiful. The museum we went to was on this hill. Its been kind of rainy off and on lately, but it is still gorgeous, and I have always loved the rain :)

These are some of the girls in my group creepin' in a part of the Park Guell that Gaudi designed. I have more pictures of it, including the section that many of you might recognize from an America's Next Top Model season finale. The one with Melrose and Caridee, and they are scary brides... And of course we had our own photo shoot, and runway walk. Audience included because blonde americans are constantly stared at all over Europe :) No, I mean of course it is because we are all drop dead gorgeous - what was I thinking?

Come back to Sorrento

So its been awhile since my last post. This is because we have been moving around a lot lately. Just fyi, I do have a new camera that works beautifully, since my last one was stolen and although I am bitter that I am out approximately 225 dollars - why waste time dwelling on it - live and learn right? But I am having technical difficulties, so this isn't my picture, but I have one exactly like it, which brings me more joy than I can say :)

I am currently in Florence and having a wonderful time. My shower doesn't have a rim around it, so it floods the whole floor, and the phone doesn't work, and it's been raining a lot, but that's just the way I like it :) Its all part of the experience! In the time since I have last posted, I have been to Sorento, Capri, Pompeii, and today I took a day trip to Piza with a bunch of the girls. The weather was gorgeous, and even just the train ride to get there was amazing. I was reading my book, and every few minutes I would look up and be so happy, realizing over and over that I am actually in Italy! The only thing that is sad is how fast this is all going.

I would like to tell the story of my trip to the Blue Grotto. So many other interesting and totaly funny or cool things happened that day as well, but this is the one I want my parents to read. All of the getting hit on and running and exploring deserted paths with Katie, my engaged adventure buddy (no one cares if you say you are married. It has absolutely no effect, ahahaha), will be filtered for now :)

We got on a boat that we thought would take us around the island and drop us off so we could go in the Grotto. To my horror, we didn't stop and I seriously contemplated jumping off the boat and swimming. We were running out of time, and we thought that we were just not going to be able to go in. But my parents taught me better than to give up like that. I sprinted to the other boat companies searching for a boat that was still going out despite some italian telling me it was impossible and that the grotto was no good in the afternoon come back tomorrow. My ferry back to sorrento left at six, so I ran and I found a boat that would take us to the grotto and get us back in time, and after some more running with Katie to tell the other girls, and the fastest bathroom trip of my life, we made it. And it was totally worth it! It was gorgeous inside the grotto, and I felt so good, following in my family's footsteps. The boat guide sang come back to sorrento in italian while we were in there - the song that our music box has played and I learned on the piano for my dad. We were the only boat in there, and it was surreal being in the place that I saw on videotape so many years ago from my parent's trip. I came to sorrento, and don't worry, I fully intend to come back. :)

And more pictures because I love them and this computer time isn't costing me anything :)

So this is an Italian Guy that was creepy but funny who was holding Natalie and Noelle's hands, and wanting to buy us pizza. He was totally married, and don't worry, I am a genius and got rid of him before we got to our hotel. I love stained glass and am so excited for the St. Chapelle, I love this architecture, and loved the modern art and the building they built around this monument for Augustus to protect it, and the guards at the Vatican were oh so sexy ;) ahahahaha :) they weren't that friendly when I tried to flirt with them, unfortunately, but it was way fun to try anyway. and it was disappointing to learn that my charms don't work on everyone :)

Pictures

I feel like posting more pictures because I have so many! and it is so hard to choose! and I had to create another post because it will only let me do five at a time :) so there is the fruit pizza, the school of athens, my bffs entering the depths of the subway (I love public transportation) (and check out there blogs for more info as well and better group pictures with me in them - Katie, Noelle, Natlie, Jackie (not pictured) and Torrie), me in my crazy cool 6 euro green aviators at the vatican museum, and the conversion of st. paul by carravaggio. A-mazing!