We began our journey by flying from Seville to Barcelona, where we would then catch a flight to Rome. So, we had a flight out of Seville at 8:25am, but since we had no idea how long it would take to get through the airport, we wanted to leave ourselves as much time as possible. We were up at 4:30 am that morning and at the bus stop by 5:30, along with many other students in our program who were going to Barcelona for the weekend. We knew that there was an airport bus, but we all seemed to have been told different stops that we needed to be at. While we were at the one we had originally planned to be, there were some Spanish teenagers at that stop who told us that the airport bus doesn't stop here. Of course, we went down the street to another bus stop where they had told us to go, but we didn't see a sign for the airport bus there either. After going back and forth for a little while and having to continue to receive criticism front he teenagers about how we were at the wrong stop, we just decided to take our chances. We saw the bus driving up the road, and all 20 of us decided to "dominate" per say, and literally ran out into the road and stood there to wave it down, because that way the driver would HAVE to stop. The driver did pull over to the stop where we were waiting and we all got on. We asked him if he would have stopped here regardless of our blockade and he said that he would have because it is on the route. So, thanks Spanish teenagers. For nothing. We all gave them a few smirks as we sat on the bus and they remained at the stop (not classy, I know, but it was 5:00 in the morning and I hadn't had my coffee yet, and those of you who know me know that I am NOT to be messed with before having my coffee).
The rest of our journey to Barcelona went off without a hitch. We were a little nervous about flying RyanAir. Since the prices were so cheap, we were afraid we would be flying in a tin can. But, to our surprise the plane was well furnished and didn't seem to be lacking in anything important.
(side note: I don't know if it was the quality of the airplanes or just purely coincidental, but every flight we took had ridiculous turbulence, so who knows)
Once we got to the Barcelona airport, we had a seven hour layover. How were we going to entertain ourselves, we weren't sure, but we knew we would come up with something. We ended up playing around on the moving walkways in an empty wing of the airport for a solid hour (yes, our maturity level is astounding). After the agony of being quarantined in the airport for seven hours, we finally boarded our plane and set out for Rome. When we arrived, we caught a bus from the airport to the center of town where our hostel was and dropped our stuff off before heading out to dinner and then seeing a few of the sights. We had our first real Italian meal and then walked to the Trevi Fountain, where we all took turns throwing coins in. After that, we wandered around to see the Roman Forum and the Collesium at night. While we were planning on visiting both of those sites the next day, we thought it would be pretty to see them all lit up at night. We got back to our room around 1:00AM and went right to bed since we had a full day ahead of us.
Coliseum at Night
After we left our hostel early the next morning, we went to see the Spanish Steps. Well, this was two days before the Italy vs Spain soccer game for the Euro Cup, so there were a bunch of Spaniards lined up on the steps in owl costumes and Spanish flags chanting some sort of cheer. While I admired their Spanish pride, they made it difficult for me to take pictures. Sorry Spaniards, but the steps are prettier and more famous than you all. Fortunately, I managed to get some good shots. After we went to the steps, we made our way to Vatican City because we had a reservation at noon to get into the Vatican. Since we purchased our tickets online ahead of time, we got to go right to the front of the line and waltz on in. We could not have timed it better. While the Vatican museum was really cool, we were all starting to get a little tired after wandering through room after room after room. We wanted to see the Sistine Chapel, and there were signs pointing us in the right direction, but the rooms seemed to go on and on and on and on. Getting to the chapel was like walking through a labyrinth. We finally reached the Chapel and realized that it was all worth it. The Chapel was exquisite. Michelangelo's work was too beautiful for words. We were told that their was a strict policy against taking pictures in the Chapel, and we wondered why. Apparently, the Japanese worked out some copyright deal back in 1988 that prohibits anyone from taking pictures of the Chapel until the year 2030.
obnoxious Spaniards on the Spanish steps
Our day was no where close to being over after seeing the Vatican. Next, we went to St. Peter's square (where the Basilica is) and then went to the Pantheon. We climbed some super tall stairs to see a magnificent view of Rome, and then moved on to the Forum, the Coliseum and the Palatine. After doing all that, we headed back to our hostel to freshen up before going ot dinner. After dinner, we went straight to bed since we had to get up at 4:30 again the next day to catch a bus to the airport because our flight to Venice was at 7:00AM.
Our day was no where close to being over after seeing the Vatican. Next, we went to St. Peter's square (where the Basilica is) and then went to the Pantheon. We climbed some super tall stairs to see a magnificent view of Rome, and then moved on to the Forum, the Coliseum and the Palatine. After doing all that, we headed back to our hostel to freshen up before going ot dinner. After dinner, we went straight to bed since we had to get up at 4:30 again the next day to catch a bus to the airport because our flight to Venice was at 7:00AM.
In St. Peter's Square in Vatican City 
climbing up the steep stairs
During this trip, everything seemed to be going well. Everyone's alarms went off, the bus was on time, we made it to the airport, we got through security, but then we tried to board the plane. Our friend Hope had a boarding pass with the same flight number as the rest of us, but a different date. Therefore, they REFUSED to let her on the plane. Even though there were 30 empty seats on our flight, Hope was left in the Rome Airport. We got to Venice and had no idea where in the world Hope was, literally, we did not know what country she was in. We had no idea if she went back to Spain, if she caught a different flight to Venice, if she was in another country, we really had no idea. We were trying to find our hostel so that we could find a wi-fi connection to attempt to contact her, but there was a problem: our hostel was in Narnia. We went to the street that the address said, but we could not find it anywhere. After three hours of hopelessly searching, we were about to give up. We had no idea where Hope was, and we couldn't even put our bags down. As we were walking up the street we hear someone shout "GUYS!" and we turn around, and HOPE WAS STANDING BEHIND US ON THE STREET! All of us actually thought we were dreaming, but it actually was her. She had found us by randomly running into us in Venice. Apparently, she couldn't get any flights to Venice or Spain on the cheap, "fake" airlines, as we call them, so she had to purchase a ticket to Venice on an actual Italian airline. We were so happy that we had been reunited and we were motivated to keep searching for our hostel.
Well, apparently there are three streets with the same name as the one that our hostel was on. Therefore, we had been searching on the wrong street for hours. Fortunately, we finally found the hostel and were able to regroup before heading out to explore more of Venice.
My friend Riley was dying to go to the island of Murano, which is a short boat ride from Venice. This island is famous for its glass-blowing. Since Venetian glass is world famous, I was eager to visit there as well. I absolutely loved everything about Murano because it was away from the massive tourist traps (like San Marco square). The glass was beautiful (and not tacky which can sometimes be problem in these types of places). After walking around the island all afternoon, we returned to mainland Venice. Fortunately, it was late enough in the day that all of the day-tourists had left. It was also dusk, which was the best time to walk around. We went to the Rialto Bridge and since it wasn't super crowded we were able to get right up front and take lots of pictures. The sun setting over the Venetian water was every photographer's dream.
All of us on Murano
The Rialto Bridge at dusk
We returned to our hotel to turn in for the night because we had to be up at 5:30AM the following morning to catch our flight back to Seville. Fortunately, everyone got on the plane this time.
We returned to our hotel to turn in for the night because we had to be up at 5:30AM the following morning to catch our flight back to Seville. Fortunately, everyone got on the plane this time.
Celebrating the fact that everyone got on the flight home (incluidng Hope)!!!
My next trip will be to Morocco! We will be visiting Tetouan, Chefchouen, and Tangiers. I have never been to Africa before, so I am super excited about this trip. I only have a week left in Spain so I am excited to have one last big trip before I have to return to the states.
Ciao!
sworonoff
