Lesson Learned

Rome was quite the adventurous trip! And it was by far, the most fun I've had traveling yet. My travel group was 6 people (Amanda, Lisa, Janay, Phoenix, Mark, and myself) but we all got to Rome in pairs. Because our plane left at 5am from Frankfurt we had to take a shuttle from Heidelberg to the airport at 2am. We had the nice surprise of running into some people from the Lausanne program and took up most of the bus (which was extremely overheated). So we get to the airport, get on the plane and start taxi-ing.. We're all pretty exhausted and just as I'm falling asleep this woman starts screaming, "Zu heisse! ZU HEISSE! IT'S TOO HOT!!!" Then she stands up, but we're about to take off so the flight attendants are screaming at her to sit down and it was a mini-panic on the plane. It was pretty scary because we were all jarred awake by the yelling, but she sat down and was quiet for the rest of the trip.. Also, it's true what they say about everyone clapping every time a Ryan Air flight lands safely.. Just a little celebration for surviving the sketchy airfare. haha.

Rome itself was amazing. It was supposed to rain the whole time we were there but it only rained the last day--the rest of the days were gorgeous. We visited all the tourist-y places: the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, Palatine Hill, the Mamertine Prison (where Paul was held!), St. Peter's Basilica (including the dome which took about 600 tightly winding spiral steps to get to), the Vatican, the Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps, the Catacombs, the Arch of Contstantine, Trajan column, the Tomb of the Unknown, the Pantheon, etc. Even the downpour we were caught in was something to marvel at. We ended up seeking refuge in a small chapel with about 100 other people. None of us were really wearing waterproof clothes so we were soaked but it was so much rain that it was past the point of annoyance and simply became amusing. We laughed and ran and played in the rain, letting it refresh our attitudes and wash away our stress, even if just for a moment.

Aside from the teeny tiny mishap of getting my passport, credit cards, IDs, and cash stolen, the trip was perfect. It might seem weird to say that losing my money and identity was a blessing, but in so many ways it was. I was able to see what amazing people I was traveling with. They came through for me and Amanda (who also lost all her documents since we both had all our things in her purse and that's what got stolen) in more ways than lending us money (although that was a HUGE help and I'm still in debt to most of them!). We also could feel a strong presence of God over us through the entire trip. Even when there was chaos around us we all felt a serene sense of calm enveloping us. And there was definitely enough chaos! With the theft, getting emergency passports at the American embassy, being harassed by a drunk Italian on a bus, watching Phoenix buy 30 Euro Dolce and Gabana man panties, almost losing Janay to a waiter who wanted to take her as his wife, taking pictures of a Canadian couple as the man proposed to his girlfriend, eating too much gelato and pizza, and seeing many many sites, we were exhausted and ready to come home at the end of our five days.

We joked about how this trip was a test of whether or not we'll survive over Christmas break, and about how we were Oh-so-much-younger before embarking on this 5-day journey, but actually both hold a lot of truth. We learned a lot on our Rome trip, and not just that you should never leave your purse on the ground, but about ourselves, each other, and the Grace we continually receive, even when we aren't aware.