Day 5: The Field Trip

I love Thursdays. As in, I really really love Thursdays. Thursdays are elementary school day. The class loads up on the bus at 8am and are off to some town outside of Barcelona. This Thursday we went to Tarragon. Tarragon is a little town about an hour or so away by bus. We went to the museum where Hector the tour guide took us though the old Roman artifacts and around the area. This is a good thing since the museum was in spanish and I know barely enough to order food in a restaurant. It really was the perfect field trip to begin our trip to Rome. The area had Rome written all over it. Literally. It was once part of the Roman empire and some of the bricks on random buildings of town have parts of Roman script craved on them still.

For lunch we had an all you can eat buffet. The food was amazing and had alittle bit of absolutely everything you can imagine. Infact, dont try to imagine. It was mostly weird things and weird combinations that you wouldnt think of. Food is definitely an adventure here. Not quite my typical Jason's Deli!

On the way back to the university I rode back with Scott. (one of the guys that often hangs out with the typical "group"... I know, I know, I mentioned how there was no guys on this trip and yet we always seem to be hanging out with them. ha) I want to take a second for character development. As I said with Bailey, I really am learning from the people I have met too. Scott is one of the most motivated people I know. He has dealt with alot in his life that I have never even remotely had to deal with. He is so driven to make a huge positive impact on people's lives and make a difference to those less fortunate. I think that when I leave this trip I want to take alittle bit of all of the people with me. So far I would take compassion from Scott.

The Journey to Rome: We took a metro to Barcelona (30 minutes) then switched metros (10 minutes) then walked to the bus station (15 minutes) then took a bus to the airport (1.5 hours) then took a flight (1 hour 45 minutes) then took a bus to Rome (30 minutes). And then we were in Rome. I have to mention that when I say we walk places it is more complicated than you would think. Drivers in Europe dont believe in the right of way. Pedestrians instead have the right to pray. (I know, I think I am so clever) Basically, run across the street when the arrow changes and PRAY that a car isnt going 200 km/hour. Oh yea. they use km here instead of miles (I am sure you knew that). I have no clue how to convert them so I just picked a high number and figured that would most likely be close to what I wanted. Or at least you get the picture.

I read Eat. Pray. Love. on the trip. Well, not all of it. Mostly the part about Italy because I wanted to read about Rome before Rome. I have to thank JenFriend for that one. As a spur of the moment she was going to half price books the day I was leaving on the trip and asked if I wanted anything. She actually found the book at Hastings and it probably changed the outlook of my whole trip. Love her. Love the book.

We checked into our hotel. Which was the same price as a hostel or cheaper. Kyle did an amazing job though finding it. It had two rooms for the six of us. four in one room and two in the other. We have our own really nice (NOT typical Europe hostel looking) bathroom. We even have a balcony with flowers in the balcony. It was perfect and amazing. Yay Kyle. Love him too. Also because I was so excited about pizza that he went down stairs with me to split a small pizza. I couldn't possibly imagine going to sleep without trying the pizza and seeing Italy streets.

Oh Rome....