STILL in Rome

Hello!

It's now day one million in Rome. It's a great city and I've enjoyed being here, but for real, a week in Rome is too long. We went to Assisi today. The train ride was interesting because there's really no way to tell what train you need to be on... but we got there. I love Assisi. We saw the Basilica of Saint Francis, where he is buried. It was beautiful and had some amazing side chapels. We also saw the church of Saint Claire. We saw her tomb too, and in that church is the crucifix that spoke to Saint Francis and started his conversion process. Aside from the amazing religious things, Assisi is a gorgeous town. There's fields of sunflowers EVERYWHERE. It's the picturesque Italian town with it's cobblestone roads, cute stone buildings, and red flowers in flower pots everywhere. You really need more than a day to see everything there, or at least more than 4 hours, which is about what Karen and I had, but I enjoyed it a lot. It's built on a hill, so the hikes weren't too fun, and the sweat just kept on pouring, but the view from the top was amazing. Really. Man, God is great to create such beautiful things.

Karen and I are going to kind of chill out tomorrow. We have 4 more churches to see in Rome. We've seen all of the big stuff, and we're REALLY burnt out on sightseeing. And we're ready to go home. I can't wait to see houses, and yards, and grass! Also, I really need a Dr. Pepper. It doesn't exist in Europe. How sad for Europe that they can't experience such a wonderful beverage.

I don't have much else to say. My camera is full of pictures, the money is almost gone, and I feel like my feet are going to fall off. Good thing I only have 8 days left. I'm almost 100% positive that this will be my last entry before I go home, because man Internet is expensive here.

I miss you all and I hope you have a great week. See you on the other side of the ocean!

Love, Michelle :)

Roma

Hello All!

This is our 3rd day in Rome. It's been so amazing. So far we've seen the Trevi Fountain, the Spanish steps, the Pantheon, Vatican City and all that it entails, the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, Palatine Hill, San Clemente Church, and St. Peter in Chains Church. Paris was amazing too. I can't believe that in the past 5 days I have seen some of the most important works of art on this earth: the Mona Lisa, the Thinker, the Eiffel Tower, Venus de Milo, St. Peter's Basilica (the Pieta), the Sistine Chapel, Michaelangelo's Moses statue, and so much more!

Tomorrow we're going to Mass at St. Susanna, the American Basilica in Rome. It'll be amazing to actually understand what the priest is saying. Then we're going to go to a bunch of other churches and see what we can see. On Monday we're going to Assisi, Tuesday we'll do more sightseeing, and on Wednesday we have a Scavi tour booked, which will take us below St. Peter's Basilica and put us right next to the bones of St. Peter! I'm so excited. The Vatican is such an amazing place. My favorite thing I've seen in Rome so far has been JP2's tomb. Karen and I were so moved by it that we both started crying. Although he's gone, his presence is definitely still felt in the Vatican. We saw a helicopter fly over while we were at the Vatican museum, and we like to think it was Pope Benedict on his way home. So, we saw him indirectly.

Paris has by far been my favorite city in Europe. It's such a beautiful city. Also, Parisians are the nicest group of people I've encountered in Europe, believe it or not. They smile at you and more than once Karen and I were looking at our map and people voluntarily came up to us to ask if we needed any help. And, the Eiffel tower is the most spectacular monument I have ever seen. Karen and I went up around dusk, and when we came down it was dark. We were sitting under the tower on a bench when the tower started flashing. It was beautiful, and the roar of the crowd was awesome. But then, we decided to leave, we went out and turned around to look at the tower one last time, and the blinking lights were phenomenal. It was the kind of flashing you imagine to happen on a Broadway theater sign, only much much sparklier and bigger. It was such an awesome sight.

I saw another cool thing from the plane on the way to Rome. We were in the clouds, and all of a sudden I could see the tops of the Alps right under us. It was so beautiful. I took a picture, and I will definitely put it on here when I get home, maybe sooner.

Thank you to all of you who have given me advice on this Europe trip. Susan, I loved the Chapel St. Chapelle (sp?). Katherine, I loved the Rodin Museum. Aaron, you're Rome advice has been invaluable. Also Susan, thanks for recommending Rick Steves' guidebooks. He's helped us a ton.

On Wednesday we will head back to Madrid, back to Sevilla on Saturday, and on Sunday, we start our long process of going home. I fly to KC on Tuesday morning, where my mom will be there to meet me. I'm so excited!

Please keep Karen and I in your prayers as we continue to travel. Everything has gone so smoothly, and we'd like to keep our record going. I can't wait to see you all. I'll post pictures and update when I can. Love, Michelle

Goodbye Sevilla!

Here's a typical fan store in Sevilla. There's about 1 every block down the shopping street in Sevilla.
Here's my afternoon class. There are 5 teachers who joint-teach the class because they're teachers in practice. There's me and Karen and 2 other Americans. There a girl from Poland and a lady, and I don't know where she's from. I've had people from all around the world in my classes, including Japan, China, Germany, Switerland, Kenya, and a lot more.
Here's the Real Alcazar, a palace where a lot of the Spanish government officials live.


Here's a really cool brick outline of Spain and Portugal at my school. Here's Gali and Anael, my two flatmates from Israel.

Today is Friday, my last day in Sevilla. My time here has gone by so fast. I'm really going to miss my classmates and my teachers. I've learned so much and I've met so many interesting people from all around the world. It's been an amazing experience. There's so many things I'd love to explain and tell you about Sevilla, but there's just not enough time to write it all. I'll be really happy to tell you about it though, when I see you in person!

Tomorrow we're going to Madrid. On Monday we're going to Paris. Then on Wednesday we'll go to Rome. The Wednesday after that, we'll go back to Madrid and see Madrid and Toledo for a couple of days. On Saturday we'll return to Sevilla, on Sunday we'll fly to London, on Monday we'll fly to Denver, and then on Tuesday the 25th my mom will be there to pick me up from the KC airport!

I don't know if I'll be able to update my blog while we're travelling during these next 2 weeks. I'll try to, but I'll definitely update and put up tons of pictures when I get home.

Thanks for reading my blog and leaving me comments! Checking for new comments is always a highlight of my day!

:) Michelle

Granada

This picture was taken from the top of a tower at the Alhambra in Granada, Spain. The Alhambra is a former Arab Palace that was built in the 14th or 15th century. Not only did the royals live there, but all of the Arab people lived inside the Alhambra or just outside of it in cave looking things built into the ground.
Here's a field of sunflowers in the countryside between Sevilla and Granada. There are sunflowers everywhere. They're called "girasol" here because "girar" is the verb for "to turn" so it's "turn toward the sun." I thought that was cool.
Here's the Alhambra.
Here's some of the beautiful gardens at the Alhambra.
The walls of the Alhambra are amazing. They're almost completely covered with very intricate designs, like the wall in the picture.

I had a good time in Granada. It's such a beautiful city. It has tons of trees and grass and is surrounded by mountains. After we went to the Alhambra, we went to a science center and saw an exhibit on the Titanic. It was really cool. They had photos of people on the ship and lots of furniture that was either original or reproduced to look like the original stuff. There was an audio commentary that told all sorts of stories about people and how the ship was made. I like it a lot. It was really interesting. To demonstrate how cold it was in the ocean when the boat sank, they had a huge block of ice that they had you put your hand on to see how long you could hold it there. I only lasted about 10 seconds. It was a very fun weekend.

This is my last week in Sevilla. On Saturday Karen and I will be on our way to Madrid. I can't believe how fast the time has gone.

Last night three new people moved into my flat. Two girls from Israel and one guy that grew up in McPherson, KS! What are the odds. It's nice to have 3 English speakers in my flat now. It was kind of cool because I was giving them advice and directions on school and things to do in Sevilla. It's so weird that I'm comfortable here now and can actually guide people on the city.

I think that's all I have to say right now. Have a good week! Michelle