Last night in London before the group split up for Paris, Scotland, and ROME!

St. Paul's Cathedral...just massive.
We made it to Louton Airport, picked a cozy corner, and caught a few hours of sleep before catching our flight outta there. This is Laura, deciding to wear more clothes, including her towel, so she could fit everything into one bag. She ended up just checking some luggage. Wise decision.

Laura and I- feeling pretty smug after our hike up the hill for a breathtaking view of Florence.

Laura and I, enjoying some Italion beer after a long day of walking

This is the prison where Paul and Peter were held when they were arrested by the Romans. Crazy.Laura and i tossing our coins into the Trevi Fountain- thus ensuring we will one day return :)Enrico- our Italion friend, posing with us on the Spanish Steps
A sunny day at the ColosseumThe Vatican!One great view of FlorenceThe Roman Forum-- very fascinating Roman ruinsThe Pantheon

Trevi Fountain

View from inside the Colosseum

Pisa!Palm treesA drizzly day exploring the Roman Ruins

Just call me Frodo.Our friend Felipe- a brazilian, who spoke Portuguese, and was studying English in Dublin. Also our walking tour guide for the day. Excellent.FREE STYLE!

Pizza on the Spanish Steps.

"Home"

So our last night in Rome was memorable to say the least. After a full day of hiking around Rome with our Brazilian friend Felipe, we finally felt secure that we had seen enough. Time to head back to Free style, relax on our beds, fill our stomach's with wine and pasta, and meet up with Megan and Gabrielle. That was the game plan.
Unfortunately, when we got to our hostel, our beds had been taken over by strangers, and we were mistakenly bumped off the list due to some miscommunication. Although we were once again homeless- by this point taking to the streets was our second nature.. and so we did.

However, we did talk Raz into getting our free meal out of the deal, and our new hostel was only one block over. Not to say that wasn't frustrating, but hey- at least we weren't back at Eden.
Things began to look up once we finally met up with Megan and Gabrielle. The four of us met up on the Spanish steps for one last icecream and sing song-along with our new Italian friends. Unfortunately, the singing was put on hold because the place was crawling with cops who were attempting to chase away the guys trying to pawn off cheap souvenirs. Although no singing was delivered, they came with pizza, and Italians are generous. This made Laura and I both very happy. We followed them on their "tour" from the steps to the Trevi Fountain, and then decided it was best to head home. I hate to generalize, but Italians have this way of getting very comfortable very quickly around new friends- not to say I felt unsafe, but after Laura was picked up and twirled around like the little poppet that she is- I think home was a good decision.

After a measly six hour sleep, I was not prepared for the 13 hour trip headed our way. It was a bit ridiculous actually, looking something like this
7:00am- meet the girls at the Termini
7:10- boarded bus that would take us to Ciampino airport (now, this was almost a 2 hour trip on our way to Rome.. so the fact that it only took 30 minutes this time not only gave us a lot of extra time, but made me realize that paying 8 euros as opposed to 3 does have its perks)
7:40- 10:40- waiting in the airport
11:00- board plane
12:45- land in Luton (lost an hour)
1:30 ish- board another bus that will take us to London
3:00 ish- have to get off the bus before the proper station, because the roads are blocked up, which meant we had to find the subway. This annoyed me for two reasons: 1) we had already payed to get to Victoria, and now we had to pay again 2) Sewer rats
4:00ish- we get bus tickets that will take us to Oxford, and we use them to get on the bus- obviously.
6:30- we finally get to Oxford. Note- this bus ride should have been an hour. I have only the Muslim protesters to thank, who we saw lining the streets in London, flogging themselves with chains. I have never seen anything like this. There were hundreds of them chanting, beating themselves in the cold, some of them with their shirts off, and some of them little children. I can't really describe how that made me feel, but I was suddenly very cold. This made for an interesting discussion on the way home, effectively jolting us out of our own realities and shifting some things properly into perspective. Makes you wonder what the future is going to look like, and how you can allow yourself to get bent out of shape by something as trivial as paying a few extra pounds for a bus fare. But I'll leave off on that, and wrap up the last few legs of this crazy day
6 something- get to Oxford, walk to the station, purchase our last ticket. Golden
7:30- walk into my house - 31 on the Green- and it's never felt better

That my friends, is the complete wrap on my spring break adventures. Pictures will come when I find the time ( Today involved meeting at the church at 9:00 am, and going hard until 4 pm with our drama productions) I am beat. I have dinner at Madelaine's in one hour, until then, I must sleep. Kind of odd that after my 10 day vacation, I could use another one.

Ciao

Free Style

I am exhausted. I am sitting in Free style (our hostel) listening to our friend Morten jam on his guitar and sing in his crazy Danish tongue. Laura is on the verge of sleep, but I think the smell from the kitchen is what is keeping us awake right now. This place offers pasta, soup, salad and wine each night, which is fantastic. Its definitely time to wind down, after a week of Rome, Florence, Pisa, then Rome again. We figure we probobly put in over 65 hours of walking at the least, and so sitting here with music, friends, and tasty food is quite nice. But, I figured I would capitalize on the free internet and at least put out some highlights from the past few days, and if not highlights, just things that stick out, and make me laugh.

- when a pigeon pooped on Laura
- singing the chariots of fire theme song every time we needed some motivation to climb the thousands of stairs Rome has to offer all its tourists
- giving Laura a piggyback up the last stretch of a hill. We thought she wasnt going to make it. It was a Frodo/ Samwise moment...again, accompanied by Chariots of fire.
- sitting in a random shop, drinking cheap Italian beer, and speaking Spanish with a stranger, and adding to my Italian vocabulary
- sitting on the spanish steps and listening to Enrico sing "thats Amore" and enjoying how willing he was to educate us about Italy
- locking myself in the bathroom in Florence, panicking because I have a strange fear of getting locked in bathrooms, (understandably, because it seems to happen to me a lot) and having to yell for help because Laura was out roaming the town for an internet point
- having to walk with Laura afterwards because she couldnt find the internet point after an hour of roaming
- finding it, and about 20 more, one street over from our hostel
- the very anti-climactic moment of seeing the leaning tower of Pisa... yes. It is a leaning tower.
- strolling through the ruins of the Roman Forum and finding the prison that Peter and Paul were thrown into when they were arrested by the Romans
- Tim, an Australian who showed up at freestyle. He lost his wallet, and had no money.. so as friendly as he was, Laura and I slept a little uneasily with him in the same room. Not to mention his snoring sounded like he was trying to eat himself.. trust me, that has a very distinct sound.
- Crying the entire way back from Florence to Rome because my eyeballs were on fire from some sort of crazy infection that crawled in overnight. Now, the only reason this is funny is because I was soo bent on looking out the window so I could see the Tuscan countryside, that it looked like I was having some sort of breakdown. Eventually I had to abandon this, put on shades, wrap my head in my pashmina, and let the blackness take over. LAME.
(my eyes have made a full recovery since then, in case your interested)
ok.. I could go on about Michaelangelo, the David, the Vatican, the Colosseum, the Duomo, the Sistine Chapel, the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, St. Peters Basilica, the Roman Forum, the sketchy hostels, the crazy men, chocolate pastries, Italion pasta, foccaccia bread, and Nutella, but I am still exhausted. Morten has stopped playing, and dinner is just about ready.
So, Im calling this a wrap.

When in Rome!

I suppose to start my reading break adventures properly, I must start with London. After our night at the youth hostel, we went to the Globe theatre as our last planned trip with the group. That was Thurday. In my mind, Thursday was 'tube' day. I know the tube is handy for travelling long distances, but there comes a point when efficiency just doesn't measure up. I felt like a sewer rat, peeping my head above the ground to catch a glimpse of St. Paul's Cathedral, then Buckingham, then Westminster... then slinking back into the dark abyss of the London metro system, which contrary to popular belief, is not as simple as people make it out to be. Moving on. That's exactly what we did. After crashing on Buckinham's steps from sheer exhaustion with Laura, Jodi, and Sharon, and sharing my musings that James, being a young and aspiring scientist, should attempt to liquify himself and then evaporate so he could then become a cloud, and maybe visit me on the steps of Buckingham. If any of you are moaning because you think that's lame, just picture 4 girls lying on their backs under the stars at the queen's palace, laughing their heads off with every passing cloud. Ya-- London was good.
After our two, possibly most glorious, hours spent at McDonalds at the Termina, where we got a free mcflurry because we stayed so long, we said our goodbyes to Sharon and Jodi, then caught our bus to Louton airport. The bus driver was a funny man, but an hour late in getting us there. Not that we were in a hurry or anything, having 5 hours to kill before our flight left. SO, I found us the most remote corner, set up my pashmina as a tent and Laura and I had our first snuggle. I felt homeless. It was great.
When we could finally board, we were a bit worried about the plane. It looked like blue and yellow plastic wind up toy. But I just got on, fell asleep, woke up to see the Alps, and two hours later we were in Rome!
We found our hostel no problem.. but finding the place wasn't the problem. I don't know if any other place can properly describe "sketch", being in some sort of ghetto.. but I will save those details till I'm home, so nobody needs to worry.
Today was fabulous! We checked out, stocked up on free breakfast, and started the day by trying to find our new hostel, "ciau bella". That was an adventure. After discovering 157, our hostel number, was a local mini mart, we got a little worried. Luckily Laura spotted the hostel two doors down. Phew. We checked in, and started the day off by hopping onto the tour bus and getting off at the Colosseums. The details of this experience can wait, mostly because I feel my lousy words are inadequate. The fact that those stones have been standing since before Christ just blows my mind.
Next was the Vatican, home of 147 dead popes, including St. Peter. We arrived just after the pope gave his speech at 12, which was unfortunate. We thought today everything was free, only to discover that deal ended at noon. Again, unfortunate. We also missed the Sistene Chapel. Woops-- but tomorrow is another day.
We did quite a hike along the Tiber River, where we encountered hundreds of cheap knock off sunglasses and name brand hand bags. Lame. Then we met the 'wailing lady' who was not quite right in the head, and would wail consistently at 5 second intervals. The best part was when she started chasing a tourist, sporadically smacking her on the head as she ran. Of course the lady was spazzing out, and from close range, you can see why that would be a bit entertaining. Moving on.
After walking for a very long time at this point, Laura started to droop, and I realized two very important things. If she is dehydrated, or unable to releive herself, she simply cannot go on. But, find her a bathroom, where one can refill a water bottle and drink as much as you like, and she's instantly alive again. She's like some sort of daisy. So, with renewed vigour we attempted about a thousand stairs to get to the Villa Borghesa, for one incredible view of the city. There was also a little carnival going on at the top of this hill, something like kid heaven. I had envious feelings.

Making our way back to the main street we were stopped by an Italion father and his guitar playing son. Clearly this was a case of "oh- you are northamerican, you can help my son become famous". We were amused, so we spoke to them for awhile, until we realized this probobly wasn't his son, and he was trying to get us to go out for dinner with him. Weird. We ran away.

Back at Ciau Bella we met Alicia, another traveller, and the three of us had dinner then sat on the Spanish Steps, where we were serenaded by 4 very talented musicians. They sang "more than words" which warmed my heart, and soon they had a whole crowd singing along, which started with us three girls. We were also sitting by one hilarious group of Indonesians, who spoke perfect English, and were studying in the Netherlands. Don't be suprised if you see some very funny pictures of us and our friends from Italy pop up on facebook. That might just have been my highlight of the night. Speaking of night, it is passed 11, which means the hostel has entered "quiet hour" which nobody seems to care about here anyways.
The man who runs this place speaks spanish, and he thinks I do too, which is hilarious, but I'm giving it my best shot. Why not??
When in Rome..!!

Break

I am writing this from our youth hostel in London, and I have 7 minutes left of prepaid internet. So forgive me if this is brief. Today we toured the house of commons, and the house of lords, then had lunch with a few of the MP's.. (Doug, Dave, Dad and grandpa- I thought of you) It was interesting when the question was posed - how we canadians view Americans. Their was a lot of anti-American sentiment, which I tried to even out with a comment on how we should appreciate them a bit more, considering the size of our military forces. I mean- I think the US has some vested interest in protecting us. I was practically laughed out of the room.
From there I went on to explore the national art gallery, Buckingham Palace, and a mexican restaurant. All of which proved a good time.
Tomorrow we tour a bit more, then at 11:40 pm, Laura and I catch a bus for two pounds to Louton airport, sleep at this airport, hop on a plane at 6:30 am, and make our way to Rome!
If you don't hear from me in the next 10 days, that's where I'll be.
Cheers!

wake up call

I wake up every morning to a symphony. A rare assortment of ‘things’ that blend their voices at the crack of dawn- long before my poor alarm clock has the chance to join the choir. The punctuality of this group amazes me. I have been here for a solid month, and without fail the music greets me. I am not impressed with their overall attitude, finding it quite all right to snag me in my dreams. Of course- they are pushy- and once they find me, set to work on nudging me out of my bubble of sleep so I can hear the prelude.

I am convinced there is a wolf living next door. His howl slices the silence in my room, more importantly in my head, and forces me to pay attention. I’m telling you, this is a pushy group. After about three or four mournful calls, the choir is properly assembled. Tiger carries the base line- usually around the time the milkman comes and clinks his bottles onto the front steps. I’m assuming the deep throaty growl means he’s pissed off. For the time being, I can rejoice in his arthritic legs. He can’t climb the stairs.

I am also convinced Bethoven lives upstairs- one room over, in the attached house. The staccato notes pumped out of the piano feel no need to reside in their own home, but play around in my bed instead. No real winters make for paper thin walls- which are great if an orchestra is trying to get through to you. The piano to my left is matched with the sweet soprano of the shower to my right. Beccy is up, and the Tiger is now happy. His base line jumps an octave- resembling excited barks. Bear in mind the choir is keeping impeccable timing to the lone wolf’s incessant call. He’s got stamina. At this point, the sun has decided to peep up and join the action. It’s a silent accomplice to the symphony, operating on my eyes while my ears are kept busy. Kind of insensitive- to try to blind someone in their sleep. I am convinced the sun has special powers. I can’t ignore it. Once the sun gets involved, colours start changing, the birds get excited, the church bells start singing, and I’m done. There is no nudging your way back into sleep. The bubble is popped.

After all this, this repeated ritual, the continual practice or performance (there is no difference) that has been going on for roughly a month, it just makes me wonder- why the heck do I keep setting my alarm clock? I’m sure it’s depressed with its constant failure to start my day.

Bring it on

Plays we've read in the past 31/2 weeks

Oedipus Rex
The Bacchae
Everyman
Mankind
Dr. Faustus
Volpone
Richard II
Henry IV
Henry V
Macbeth
Othello
Antony and Cleopatra
The Kite Runner ( not a play, but a must read!)

I don't mean to brag, but that's an aweful lot of reading material to accomplish in just over three weeks. Not to mention they are plays written in Old English. But the end is near- with our schedule looking something like this

Today- over
Thursday- research, lunch at the college, class from 2-4, then a Valentine's day bash with the Charlbury community- which reminds me, Tim and I are supposed to sing a song...and we haven't practiced.
Friday- Exam day
Saturday- more exam day, Lewis and Tolkien tour with Dr. Loney, a pizza party with the group, then another play to watch in Oxford
Sunday- church and hopefully no schoolwork
Monday-Wednesday- time to come up with two 10 page papers, and three shorter assignments.

That- my friends, will mark the end of the first term. After that, we head to London, watch a show, have a slumber party in our first hostel, then we all head off to our spring break destinations. Ahhh.. when in Rome

But let me bring you back to today. There is something slightly unnerving about taking your prof head on when he begins his class by openly ridiculing the absurdity of Calvinism, and the notion of predestination. Now, I recognize this is an issue even among fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, mostly because it is incredibly difficult to wrap your head around free will, and predestination. And so a part of me was thinking- wow- are we really going to get into this? Should I get into this? (Academics and laziness can often go hand in hand- don't be fooled) But as the initial introductory remarks turned into open hostility-- I resolved to be bold.

I opened my mouth- and we had ourselves one heck of an intense discussion for the next two hours.

I just wrote all about it, and then the internet cut out, and it deleted- without saving. Rather than recap the whole thing, we'll call it providence, and leave it at that.

Cheers!