Italia here we come!!!

Christmas season 2008: We arrived in Rome! We find our bus and make our way to the hotel. One of the best things about Trafalgar is that they try their hardest not to book “name brand hotels” so we were in this cute little hotel with a rooftop terrace and garden. We loved it! We saw so many amazing old things! All the history to take in is just unbelievable! We have the most amazing tour director named Federica! She was so much fun and knew exactly where to take us! Now…andiamo! :) (let’s go in Italian). 

The first full day we visited the Sistine Chapel where the works of Michelangelo are located. Then we headed into St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. From here we went into ancient Rome to overlook the Forum and the Circus Maximus where chariot races used to take place. And then…we went to the Colosseum! So crazy that the Romans were going to destroy this building! Then we had dinner at a cute local place and had so much food! Classic Italian dining where the food just kept coming and coming and coming! And after that we went on an excursion to the Trevi fountain. We also saw Rome by night which was so incredible since it was all lit up for the holiday season! Saw the Pantheon which I studied when I was an Architecture major (that only lasted a semester). We saw so much in such a short amount of time it was incredible! Now, onto the South!

Thanksgiving Break 2008

Thanksgiving wasn't out of town or at a unique destination, it was at my house! But Lene came with me! She got to experience some fun “Texas Country” stuff. We went to see a Randy Rogers concert and I got Lene to take a picture and dance! Kjersti called Lene and said that she and a Czech student, Veronika, were going to be coming through San Antonio on their Texas road trip to the coast. Of course I said they can stay with me and my family and had a nice American Thanksgiving dinner. It was so wonderful to have a houseful of friends for the holidays. I took them to Enchanted Rock State Park and we went for a hike. Kjersti got me hooked on the Twilight books and over Thanksgiving is when we became really great friends! :) 

Lene, Veronika, Kjersti, me

Before you knew it, it was time for all of them to leave :( it was really sad to see them go. Lene stayed in the states for a little while longer and had Christmas with Amanda; I was sad that I didn't get to spend more time with her while I had the chance but Ashley and I had a country to take by storm…Italia!

Viva Las Vegas

In October Justin and I went with all the Norwegians to Vegas. It was Cecilie, Lene, Kjersti, Fredrik, Aleksandra, Tormod, Erik and Terje who went with us. Cecilie and Lene stayed with me and Justin while the others stayed at another hotel. We would meet up with them from time to time but we were on different parts of the strip and had different agendas. The Norwegian guys dint bring any dress shoes so we couldn’t get into any clubs so we went to a “classy” strip club, or at least that’s what the limo driver said, and Cecilie left her cell phone there so we had to go back in the morning to get it…blah. I do have to give Justin some major props for getting the limo driver and strip club to give us a discount or a free ride back to our hotel. At least we got that after pretty much being forced to get table service (DON’T EVER DO THAT!!!) Vegas was fun and we had a good time but of course we were very tired by the end of the weekend and just wanted to go home.

Me and Justin

nothing like morning cocktails!

The Norwegians Invade!

So lucky for us the friends we had made in Norway were going to study at Texas Tech for a whole semester! The ones that came that we knew or took classes with were Cecilie, Fredrik, Aleksandra, Tormod, Erik and Terje. And the two people that I didn’t know were Kjersti and Lene but we became close friends. We were so excited to have them! Amanda, Cecilie, Lene and I became a tight foursome; we would all go out together and end up in the hot tub after….we occasionally would meet up with the others. They all lived in different apartment complexes around the city of Lubbock but we never had any issues with picking them up.  Justin lived further away so he would swig by and pick up Tormod, Aleksandra, and Kjersti when we were all meeting up. It’s so fun to have people from other countries stay with you and you get to show them your home! We took them to football games and all the nasty fast food places…and the good restaurants in Lubbock (if you can really say they have any) and of course all the bars ;)

Pumpkins!!!

Charlotte also came to visit us for Halloween! She also happen to be there for the Tech (TTU) vs. Texas (UT) football game. Not only had she never seen an American football game she picked a great game to go to (this coming from a person who doesn't like football). Tech won by just a few points (39-33). While she was there all the Norwegians carved pumpkins and we also made Charlotte a traditional Thanksgiving dinner! YUM! Big props to Amanda for her sweet cooking skills!



Charlotte and Cecilie with the wishbone



Where should I go next?!?!?!

So after I came home I was sitting with my best friend by her pool and telling her about my trip and my travels and she was so into it and wanting to do something like that too. Well her dad was sitting out there with us. Let me give you a little background with Ashley’s dad, I have known her since 6^th grade and I haven’t spoken more than 10 words to him my whole life! And he himself has also traveled a lot in Europe, mainly Germany. Well he said that if we planned it he would pay for it! Ashley and I go into the house and I am like, “WHAT?!?!” am I under the impression that he is going to pay for us to have an adventure for us? Yes! So with my experience with traveling in Europe and trying to navigate foreign cities I suggested maybe trying to find a tour to take that could show us more in a short amount of time. After some Googling   we found Trafalgar Tours. We decided that the ‘Best of Italy’ tour would be the best choice for us since it was the right length, price, and let us see the best places in Italy. The only time I could go was over Christmas since I was still in school. So we would be spending out first Christmas away from our families…in ITALY!!! So it was a good trade. As the date gets closer the tour gets booked, the flights are booked and before we know it, it’s time to take off! 

The Turks

Leo, me, Suna, Amanda

So let me tell you a little bit about the Turkish students that we met while we were there. The classes we were taking consisted of about 30 American students, 10 Norwegians, and 5 Turkish students. The Turks were some of the nicest people I have ever met, so not what you would expect. We made really good friends with a few of them: Burak, Leo, and Suna. Burak was roommates with Jack and that how we became pals with him and Leo was just an all around awesome guy! The funniest thing he said was in class, here is the story. The topic in class was companies’ ads not having the same meaning in one place as they do in another. Some of the examples were packaging Oreos in tubes and not boxes and marketing McDonalds for different regions. And one of our classmates, Stig, said that something similar happened in Norway with the Honda Fit (Fitte) (pronounced Feet-a). And he continues to say what the meaning of Fitte means in Norwegian….I’ll just let you look that up on Google Translate…and he said that out loud in class!!! So needless to say that woke everyone up and Leo turns to me and Jack and says, “I will buy this car!” So funny! 

Now a Suna story…we were out at the bar and she was being her usual drunk, Turkish self. Well the tables had candles on them and she leaned over the table and well, burned her hair! And all she has to say is, “Oh, I burned my hair!” WTF Suna?!?!? Are you kidding me? LOL we miss their crazy antics! 

Suna, Amanda, me

Suna

Back in time to Pack

Amanda, Charlotte, Me, and Christina

Of course I had given myself some time to relax and pack my bags but it was so bitter sweet. The past 6 weeks had been a life changing time for me. There is something about being on your own in a foreign land that I guess really makes you figure out who you are. Being the planner that I am I called the bus depot to ask them if they could please come up to our apartments to pick us up as we had 28 or so students with lots of luggage going to the airport.  So glad they picked us up, we didn’t want to have to walk the dreaded hill! A super steep hill, we were on top and the town was below.

 The flight back was indeed something to remember. We were about 1 ½ into the flight when all of a sudden we hear, “is there a doctor on flight?” HOLY SHIT!!! What is going on??? Well, turns out a baby was having some problems and we had to turn around and head back to Oslo. We had to wait on the tarmac for a gate, de plane, and then wait for them to do diagnostic testing on the plane since we had a heaving landing (the plane was still full of fuel). We finally made it Newark 14 hours later! We missed out flight back to Houston and had to stay overnight…blah! Amanda and I decided to take the 1st flight out that left at about 5 a.m., gave us about 3 hours of sleep and took us through Cincinnati or something but we made it to Houston! FINALLY! So glad to be home…now it was time to chill for a week then head back up to school for summer classes….but not before an amazing trip to Italy was in the works! ;)

me and Justin

me and Amanda

the 3 of us!