here's the post of my last few days in europe. 

friday the 29th:

Today we visited the Coliseum.  We were able to go inside after buying a ticket for 10 euros.  The ticket was good for both the Coliseum and Palentine Hill.  We explored the Coliseum for a while, but it was SO HOT!  When we first walked in, it was kinda cool to see a huge cross right in front of us.  I guess it was put there as a commemoration of all those who were martyred in that very place.  We were able to go on two of the levels and the view of the whole thing was easier to see on the 2^nd level.  From the lower level, it is hard to picture what it one day looked like since it is so different from its original state now.  But, they are in the process of restoring it to its original state.  One thing kate brought up was that since they are slowly rebuilding it, who knows – it could one day possibly be used for its original purpose during the reign of the anti-Christ.  Weird thought.  After the Coliseum, we ate lunch and then headed to Palentine Hill.  As would be my luck, as I reached for my ticket to enter Palentine Hill, I realized that I had lost it.  Of course.  So I went to the ticket booth, hoping for a break or at least a cheaper price than the original 10 I paid.  No such luck.  The ticket would be another 10 and even when Traci and I explained what had happened, there seemed to be nothing the man could do.  I decided I didn’t want to pay another 10 so I went and asked Patty how much I’d be missing if I didn’t go in.  Apparently a lot, since he started trying to pay for my ticket.  No way…I don’t really like to let people pay for stuff for me.  Ok, I’ll pay the extra for my stupidity.  I go back to get the ticket and the poor man in the window begins to feel sorry for me.  First he tells me to ask this big tour group at the window if I can just join them to get in because they had extra tickets.  As I’m trying to figure out who he wants me to go ask, I see him type something in the computer, the screen says 0 euro and then he hands me a ticket.  For free.  What a nice guy.  So we start looking around Palentine Hill.  It is the area of old Roman ruins – temples to the gods, gardens, the Circo Maximus (place where chariot races and stuff like Ben Hur occurred), and much more.  It was really col.  Funny story.  There was only a few of us left still looking at everything (Jincy, Katie R., Pat, Trace, and I) and we find a little water fountain thing.  Katie starts rinsing her legs off and I’m just giving her a hard time so I ask her if she’s planning on showering.  She loudly informs me that she is only trying to keep her rash cool.  We all start cracking up and I tell her that everyone might have heard that to which she says that no one could understand her anyways.  There’s this guy behind us that clearly looks American, so I ask him if he can speak English and he says yeah that he’s from Chicago.  HAHA….he had been able to hear all of Katie’s rash info.  But she doesn’t stop there (he’s laughing at this point too)…she goes on to inform him that she has a heat rash.  Hahahahaa  I don’t think he wanted details, but it made it even funnier to us.  Anyways, after finishing most of the ruins, we went back to the hotel for a short nap and then we went out to dinner for Katie Reffitt’s 20^th birthday.  We went to a little restaurant near the hotel that was really cute.  My food wasn’t really the best, but for the atmosphere was worth it.  For Katie they had a guitar player and some waiters come and everyone sang (in English) to Katie and they brought her a piece of cake.  It made me wonder how they celebrate birthdays over here.  Is it normal to tell the waiter about a birthday and them to bring cake and sing as it is in the States, or did they just happen to know that was how we would do it?  Do they have a version of the Happy Birthday song in Italian or do they sing a completely different song or maybe not one at all?  Anyways, after dinner we had a cake for Katie at the hotel and it was an interesting experience trying to get the candles lit with our lighter that didn’t work.  Dave eventually ran down 2 flights of stairs to the street to find someone with a lighter to light his one candle so we could then all light the rest.  It was fun. 

Reflection:  I was really struck by the friendliness of everyone in Italy today, and yet when walking down the street you see graffiti that says STOP WARS and Aliens go home and things like that.  But still, the people in Italy have probably been friendlier than any other place we have been to, thought honestly we have not experienced much negativity at all really.  It shows the importance of experiencing something for yourself before taking someone else’s word for it and believing all the stereotypes that Americans have built about foreign countries. 

saturday the 30th:

Today was our last day of the trip.  We woke up pretty early and most everyone rode the bus to the Vatican except Traci, Pat, and I.  We decided to save money and get some exercise by walking the 4-5 miles.  We still got to the Vatican museum in plenty of time before it closed (it closes early on Saturdays).  We looked around the museum a little, but made our way as quickly as possible to the Sistine Chapel.  Wow.  I cannot fathom that one person painted this whole thing.  I’ve always just heard about the ceilings, but the walls are covered with painting as well, all done by Michelangelo.  It was really cool to try to figure out what Bible stories were portrayed in the paintings and see the various Biblical characters that he chose to honor.  It was interesting because there is supposed to be no talking in the chapel, and there are guards placed just to SSHHHHH people.  What a job, huh?  After we got out of the chapel, there was some place in the museum that Pat wanted us to see as we had a little time before meeting up with the rest of the group.  Turns out that we had somehow missed this small part on our first walk through and we ended up going through the ENTIRE museum again…a second time.  Dang tour groups get in the way too!  So we went through the Vatican museum twice and then met up with everyone else and went to see St. Peter’s Basilica, the cathedral used by the Pope.  Weird to know that the Pope sits in the exact chair that I saw.  It was a cool cathedral though….absolutely huge.  I think it is the biggest in the world?  Everyone else rode the bus again to go back to the hotel, so the three of us started our long hike again but stopped to shop and see things along the way.  That night we had to pack and then we also went out for Shell’s birthday (which is actually the 31^st).  Jess got her a strawberry cheesecake and the restaurant was yet again so nice and let us bring our own dessert into their place and they even provided us with plates.  Man they were nice to us.  It was so weird to have to pack everything and know that the next morning I was leaving Europe for a very long time.  I really have loved every minute of this trip…such a great experience. 

Reflection:  I think it is interesting to know that the Vatican is guarded by Swiss guards…no real reason to add that in, but an interesting fact just the same.  I think it is just neat to get a better insight into what armies are considered great, and to know that the pretty neutral country of Switzerland has one of the most well-trained armies in the world.  Overall, I have come to the realization that one cannot ever hope to be good at international business or marketing unless they immerse themselves in the customs of and ways of life of that country.  Each and every country we visited had different marketing schemes and different ways of business.  They all handled foreigners differently and other things as well.  A trip like ours gave a very small insight into these countries, but not even close to enough.  But, it did show me that visiting these other countries is essential if one hopes to conduct any sort of business with them and hope to be accepted by them.

sunday the 31st:

Today was the day of traveling.  We got up at 3:15am (that is 9:15pm my home time) to leave for the airport around 4am.  We had arranged for a shuttle to pick us up at that time.  We got to the Rome Da Vinci airport at about 4:45.  everyone else’s plane left around 7:05, and my plane left at 7:45.  we sat around waiting for their check-in desk to open and then after they all got checked in and headed towards their gate, I got in line for my flight’s check in.  my gosh I thought a riot might start with the family behind me when the line went chaotic after a new lady opened her desk for the London flight we were all going on.  But I finally got checked in and then found my gate, only to find out that the rest of the group was at the gate right next to mine and had yet to board.  They boarded shortly and left though, and I was by myself again.  My plane for London left on time.  It was not that long of a flight and once I arrived in London I had to try to figure out where I was supposed to go next since I had to re-check-in because the people in rome could only give me one boarding pass, not the passes for all of my flights.  I waited in a line for what seemed like FOREVER and when I finally got to the counter and the lady gave me all I needed, she informed me that my plane was boarding and that I needed to hurry to the gate without any stops along the way.  Come to find out, it was a pretty long walk and I ended up sprinting through half of the London airport to my gate.  I got there with a little bit of time, and got on the plane. I was sitting next to a really cute german girl named julia that spoke pretty good English and we talked some.  The flight to boston was a little over 6 hours, but it was really turbulent.  Probably the most turbulent flight that I had ever experienced.  We arrived in boston on time, but then I had to go through immigration, then find my bag at baggage claim to go through customs and then immediately re-check (transfer) my bag on to Orlando.  Then I had to try to find my gate and the boston airport was a little confusing.  I get on the little bus thing to the terminal and it was filled with people from my London flight heading on to Orlando, and all of us were realizing that we only had about 30 minutes until take-off time and that boarding should have already begun and we weren’t even at the gate yet.  We all took off together through the terminal and run to the gate to find that our flight was delayed….four hours.  Sweet.  I was stuck in the boston airport by myself on about 3 hours of sleep.  Instead of leaving the airport at 2:30 as we were supposed to and getting into Orlando at 5:30, I left boston close to 8pm, after waiting on another plane to get there (ours had mechanical difficulties) and then going through all the flight checks and stuff, and got into orlando around 10:35.  I didn’t even get home til close to 12.  that means that I was up from 9pm eastern time until the following day around 12:30am…27 hours with only a few short cat naps on the planes.  Looooong day, but I sure did feel good about getting through 3 unknown airports by myself, and some confusing ones at that. 

that's it for my europe trip.  i will no longer be posting on this site, but rather back to my www.xanga.com/racheltidwell site, so check there for new stuff. 

after the laundromat yesterday, we rested for awhile and then ate dinner at a cute little place next to our hotel.  i had gnocci pasta and it was good!  then we checked out a little supermarket in the train station and headed back to our hotel.  a few of us (lydia, pat, katie, traci, michelle, and i) went down to see the colliseum (how do you spell that?) last night to see it all lit up since tomorrow we will go see it in the day time.  man...it was a weird feeling.  i sat there and looked at this montrous piece of history in front of me and just wanted to sit on the steps and cry.  we were only able to walk around the outside since it was closed and i began to wonder at the fact that it is a tourist attraction at all.  a place that was used for murder as a sport is now a place that everyone goes to see.  it is almost too weird for me.  i mean i want to go in and see where everything went on and appreciate the history of it all, but at the same time i almost feel irreverent or something.  i just sat there in awe of those christians that went before me and were fed to lions or had to fight gladiators.  how blessed am i to be able to live the life i live?!  i was really struck by that last night and i sat there and did cry a little as i thought about all that had gone on just behind those gates.  God is too good to me, that is for sure.  but thanks be to Him for allowing us all to live in freedom of religion. 

today we walked for what seemed like forever in what seemed like the hottest weather ever.  we walked along the via del corso and saw the pantheon, the fontana de trevi, the spanish steps, and a big piazza that is pretty famous.  we did some shopping along the way and i almost fell on the dang cobblestone streets like a bagillion times.  this city is cool though just because of all the rich history behind everything.  this was once one of the greatest ruling empires of the world...that is crazy.  we found the ice cream shop (san crispino) that sebastian had recommended and ate there and it was good.  other than that, nothing major went on today, but we did cover a lot of the city.  now i am tired and going to be headed to dinner pretty soon...yay! 

i left of on saturday the 23rd so now i will pick up there:  (i have all of this written in a journal, so i am typing it as if i wrote it on that day since i did write the journals on that day)

After we moved cars on the train to our 2nd class seats, Jess, Shell, Traci, and i were in a car with one man in it (6 seats total).  we sat down, and about one minute later he picked up his bags and left.  guess he didn't like us.  the train ride ended up being almost 4 hours (and should have taken about 2 on the train we missed) but we had a pretty good time.  i had a really emotinoal time at one pint and the 4 of us had a really good talk and they let me cry for a long time, which was needed.  this summer has been constantly that way for me and it was bound to happen sometime soon.  only the 2nd breakdown n the trip though, so not too bad, considering the other half of my summer.  once we arrived in florence (finally) we walked forever with our packs to find our hostel and then dropped off our packs and headed to dinner.  oh my gosh, italian food is amazing!  i had some sort of pennedish with ricotta cheese, tomato, and basil and it was phenomenal.  traci and i split a really good cheesecake thing for dessert too.  the desserts were right by our table and the dessert maker guy was so cute!  his name was tony and he talked with us a lot and gave us free samples.  i officially like italy.  so far anyways.  oh and by the way, our room has a shower in it...yes, just a shower out in the room, surrounded only by a semi-frosted door.  boy, that has caused some funny episodes. 

sunday the 24th

we started out sunday with a devo all together.  then we went and ate breakfast at a cute pastry shop before heading to the academy galleria museum where the david statute is housed.  the thing is huge!  "no pictures...it is forbidden" so the secret agent lady told us.  but surprisingly, the majority of th rest of the useum was modern art (except the section dedicated to old musical instruments) and so weird.  this stuff should not be considered art.  there was one piece of art that consisted of a microwave on a box with metal utensils sticking out of it.  not art in my book and so not fitting for the building that is home to the famous michelangelo statute of david.  anyways, after that we grabbed some pizzas for lunch and then went to a big square and then another art building with a replica of the david.  while standing in line for this pointless building, katie reffitt instinctively reached forward to tuck the tag of a lady's shirt in for her.  the husband starts freaking out on katie saying "why would you do that...etc." in broken english while the lady is laughing, so i figure the man is kidding.  apparently not.  i try to tell katie not to worry about it because the lady was laughing and then the man starts freaking out on me, but this time i'm not sure he was speaking english.  so i ask him to repeat himself and he does but i still can not understand him and at this point it is becoming ridiculous and so i just turn to traci and say - i can't understand him and that was over.  it is weird to see how a different culture reacts to something as simple as tuckingin a tag, a helpful gesture.  the rest of the afternoon was mainly spent walking around the squard with artists and such and markets.  we saw some bridge that is famous in florence but i don't remember the name. we went to another wonderful place for dinner and i had really good lasagne.  then we had great ice cream before heading back to our hostel for the night.  oh yeah and we went by the restaurant from last night and saw tony through the window and he ran outside to see us...it was really cute. 

monday july 25th

monday was set aside to go modena, where the maserati plant is.  we got a train there and arrived around one, only to find out that we were not allowed a tour without reservations.  so we got to look around the showroom of cars that cost close to 150,000 US dollars but could not get a factory tour.  the ferrari plant/museum was probably about a 30 minute bus ride out of town but for some reason that would not work out either.  so we ate lunch and then rode the hour and a half train back to florence.  if you wanted to learn real life lessons about business in foreign countries - note to self - confirm things like tours before riding on hour and a half trains but also be prepared that somethings just aren't going to work out as planned.  organization is key, but it can not get you everything, especially trying to communicate with someone who speaks a foreign language.  so, after arriving in florence we got back on another train to go to pisa.  riding on the trains you sure can see beautiful countryside...everything in italy is how i pictured it to be (as spain was not).  the architecture, the vineyardsin the countryside, the cute restaurants, everything.  we got into pisa and began a quite lengthy trek from the station to the leaning tower.  along the way, traci and i made up the story of how the tower got its original name, played our own version of mother may i, and san this is the walk that never ends in different accents.  we finally got to the tower around sunset and got to see it and take pictures.  we got some ice cream on the way back to the train station to catch a train around 10:30 (an hour train ride) back to florence.  we get to our platform and a man tells us there are no more trains and we must take a bus.  well, come to find out, the train workers of italy had all gone on strike until 9pm the next day.  what?!  apparently that is not uncommon in italy.  so we were told to wait outside the station for a bus at 10:45.  10:45 comes and goes and there is no bus.  we start to get a little worried and begin realizing that the later a bus comes, the later we get into florence, since a train ride takes and hour and a bus should clearly take more than that.  then someone says 11:45, but yet again, no bus at 11:45.  traci, katie, kate, dave, and i all laid on the grass and cuddled to keep warm.  finally at 12:45 (the third time we were tole) the blue bus shows up and we all hop on.  the driver was insane and we definitely got into florence at 1:45 as quickly as a train would have taken.  god was watchin out for us all day, that is for sure.  then we had to walk back to our hotel at 2 in the morning.  dang i was so tired. 

tuesday the 26th:

because of our late night last night, today began around noon.  first we walked towards the market where we were going to spend the day shopping and ran across the restaurant sebastian had recommended on the plane from miami.  though we didn't eat there, it was cool to find it.  we ate lunch and then began an afternoon of intense shopping at the central market.  it was so fun and i got some stuff i'd been wanting to find at pretty good deals.  the little stand owners are all very good salesmen and women and most of them speak pretty good english too.  florence is like the leather capital or so it would seem so they try to sell everyone a leather jacket and they also have leather belts, journals, photo albums, breifcases, everything.  we went back to the hotel to rest for a while and then deaded to dinner.  after dinner, we found his big open square where these 4 or 5 men were playing "gypsy" type music and we watched them for a while.  we also watched the very strange lady with hairy armpits behind them dancing around all by herself with a goofy smile on her face.  trace, shell, and i danced some with each other as there is that whole lack of guy thing.  then we got ice cream (of course...it is so good here that you can not pass it up!  plus you walk so much that you walk it all off anyways) and then watched a parade in the city which was kinda neat.  then pat, lydia, jincy, michelle, traci, and i headed to this big festival on the other side of town.  they had fair type games but the prizes were cell phones and laptops, lots of food booths, an indoor car display and market and some different stages with live bands playing.  we heard italian rasta (how do you spell that word?) music and then an italian rock band.  it was funny.  the festival definitely seemed like the place to be at night in florence.  i think it goes on for like a week or two every year and it is a huge event.  then we went back to our cruddy hostel (dang this place is bad...jincy and dave had bed bugs, the sink had brown chunks in the drain, the mosquitos were bad, and there was no air or fan) and packed, showered off all the grime, and then went to sleep.  traci scratched my back as i was falling asleep and it was amazing.  might be one of the best back scratches ever.  she and michelle have told me that i am one of the best back scratchers too...hooray for me?  anyways...i am just glad it was my last night at the nasty place. 

wednesday the 27th:

today we got up in order to be ready to leave florence for rome by train around 9.  ate breakfast on the way and then got on the train for about 3 and a half to four hours.  we arrived in rome around 1pm and got to our hotel only after jess got knocked over by a stupid rolly backpack on the street.  the hotel is so much nicer than the last place.  we have a little apartment type thing with 4 rooms and two toilets (bathrooms).  much better than the last place.  we ate lunch and then took our clothes to the laundromat and that gets me up to the present.  this is the first time i have been caught up in a long time!  i am in rome and am here for 3 full more days and then sunday i fly home.  it has been a crazy fast three weeks, and yet spain feels a million years ago. 

time to catch up some more

wednesday the 20th:

today was a very relaxing sort of day.  we started off with a hike up the alps.  yes, that's right, i hiked in the swiss alps.  we rode a little trolley up the mountain about halfway from vevey and then hiked for about 30-45 minutes (rather straight up at times) until we reached a radio tower thing at the top of the mountain that you can ride up to an overlook deck.  the view was absolutely amazing.  oh yeah, while hiking up, we had to manuever around a humongous tree that had fallen in the path and step over branches and thorns and such...that was an adventure.  when we got back down the mountain and to our hostel, we ate a lunch of sandwiches and then got into our swimsuits.  after checking out a local pastry shop's amazing chocolates, we all headed down to Lake Geneva for the afternoon.  jess, shell, trace, and i rented a paddle boat for an hour (everyone else did too) and paddled out to the middle of the lake and then shell and i jumped in the freezing cold water and traci joined us later.  it was so amazing!  then we just lazed around on the paddle boat until our hour was up.  after this, we went to buy cards at the supermarket/mall and then went back out and laid in the sun while reading until it was time to get ready for dinner.  we all got dressed up nicely and then headed to dinner at a fondue restaurant.  we had appetizers of various cold meats and such, then a cheese and bread fondue.  the cheese definitely had an interesting taste, but it was a really cool experience.  for dessert, patty and i shared chocolate mousse.  it was good!  after heading back to the hostel, we again played nerts, this time teaching mrs. fairweather and lydia as well.  it was fun again, of course, though traci and i didn't do so hot.  i've found that i finally fit in (looks wise) a little better in switzerland!  there are actually blondes here!  haha...that's exciting.  anyways ' all and all a good day.  good sun, good food, and a good God who made some amazing scenery for me to enjoy. 

thursday 21st:

today we rode a train to geneva, switzerland.  our main purpose was to visit the UN (headquarters) and so once we arrived in geneva, that was the first thing we did.  it was really cool to go there.  there is this huge long sidwalk up to one of the main buildings completely lined with flags of all the ocuntries in the UN.  we went on a guided tour and got to see some conference about human rights going on and also got to go in some of the big conference/meeting rooms.  there were a few things that stuck out to me about the UN:

1) security is very tight - visitors aren't even allowed to enter the park on the grounds

2) much of what is seen in the buildings were gifts form various countries in the UN - marble to make pillars, granite in the floor, etc. 

3) many things seen have significance.  for example, in one conference type room there are huge paintings covering the walls given by some spanish guy.  haha, i like how descriptive that is.  anyways, every painting represents something like technological innovation, rise of science, etc.  and most lead toward the idea of no war - hence the UN.  the symbol of the UN in the biggest conference room shows a map of the world, and the north pole is in the center picturing that no one country is more superior than the other and the whole globe is surrounded by olive branches signifying peace.  an interesting thought that dave had is that their purpose is continually no peace and building a generation that won't know peace, and yet what they don't realize is that as long as there is good and evil, that can never happen.

anyways, so after that we had a lunch of pb and j that we had brought with us and then did some shoppin in town for souvenirs and such.  dang the chocolate here is good!  truffles are amazing!  we caught the train back to vevey and went grocery shopping so we could cook spaghetti for dinner.  we cooked and ate and then played nerts and spoons before calling it a night. 

friday the 22nd:

this was the most relaxing day of the trip that we've had yet.  we got up and traci and i went to check into buying some truffles and then all of us went to the photography museum in town.  it was pretty cool.  then traci, dave, date, and i went to buy the rest of our take home chocolates and then we ate lunch back at the hostel.  after lunch we all headed outside.  it was a beautiful afternoon and we spent it laying out on the grass beside the lake and swimming as well.  we found a big pier that jutted out into the lake and we could jump off of it into the lake because it was really deep.  it was a really fun time!  when we finally went back to the hostel we cooked a good dinner (mostly patty, traci, and i) and then had a meeting as a group for a time of reflection.  we discussed things how the swiss do not really market things as the US does.  you don't see billboards or huge advertisements ruining the scenery.  the museum we visited this morning was barely advertised around town, though i suppose that could account for some of its lack of business.  i think most of their marketing/advertising comes from word of mouth.  it is definitely different from the usa!  after dinner, we all went for a walk to watch the sunset and eat ice cream that was so good. 

saturday the 23rd:

woke up saturday morning at 5:30 to see the sun rise.  every girl had said they wanted to be woken up, though in the end i think traci, jincy, and i were the only ones who made it long enough to actually see the sun make it over the mountain.  but, i love sunrises, and i would just as soon watch it by myself, so i didn't mind.  i just feel so close to god in moments like that.  i always read out of psalms when i watch a sunrise, so this morning was no different.  i also listened (and sang along) to chris tomlin and passion for about 45 minutes as i waited for the sun to come out over the top of the mountain.  how can anyone not accept a creator?!  i finally went back to sleep around 7 only to have to get up at 8 to get ready to leave for italy.  sadly, i left my white chocolate bar at the hostel somewhere as i did not find it once we reached the train station.  we rode for about an hour and a half to somwhere where we caught a train for about another 4 hours to milan italy.  and then the fun began.  we had been seated in the train as us 10 students and then the fairweathers were in a different car.  when the train stopped in milan, we got off and proceeded to the end of the platform to wait for fairweathers.  we waited and waited and looked for them without finding them and finally looked at our watches to see that our train to florence with our reserved seats left in one minute and we still had no fairweathers.  we begin running (keep in mind we have huge backpacks on) to the platform just to arrive and see it slowly leaving the station.  sweet.  no fairweathers and no train.  we finally get in touch with them on the cell phone and find that they are comfortably riding to florence on the right train while we are sitting in a hot train station with no reservations and no professor.  thank goodness for patty!  he got us on another train (with a longer route to florence) that left at 3 instead of two.  when we first got on, we were in the first class section and decided to try to stay there, acting like dumb americans when they came by, in order to see if we might have good enough luck to get to stay.  we did not.  the guy came and told us 2nd class was further back so we had to move cars. 

ok i am out of time, but i will finish this later....italy is amazing though and the food and ice cream was everything i expected and more.