Heyyy, hallelujah.

Did you know there is an ice rink on the first floor of the Eiffel Tower? You probably did. Probably because I told you. Multiple times.

Seriously, though, it was the discovery of a lifetime. Even though London turned into a girl and refused to go skating with me. I made him hold my bag and shoes while I skated in circles and was generally giddier than I have been since the first time it snowed out here. (Before everything turned to ice and slush.) (It's all melted now, though. It's actually been quite warm the past few days.)

London hadn't been to Paris since he was little, so we got to do all the touristy stuff without me feeling stupid, since I've done most of them before. We stood in line to see the Mona Lisa (as well as the picture on the cover of the APEC textbook!) and went to the top of the Arch de Triumph, which I think is probably my favorite view of Paris. We walked up the Eiffel Tower, although the top was closed (probably due to wind. The weather was a pinch bipolar while we were there--sun, wind, rain, the works.). The first floor wasn't so difficult, but the stretch from the first to the second was a pinch painful. The view was definitely worth it, though, and it was about half as cheap as taking the elevator.

(There'll be more Paris stories to come. And hopefully pictures as well, if I can get London to send them to me. I accidentally left my camera at the hotel the first day, and it died one picture in on the second day. lol @ me.)

The day after we got back (last Monday, the tenth) was the beginning of semester two. Blegghh. It has not been a pretty week, all thanks to academia and administrators who really couldn't care less about one more student. Yes, I feel bad for them because I'm sure their job sucks big time, but if someone doesn't like dealing with people who need help then it's probably time to consider a change of careers.

I'm bitter about a few things, in case you couldn't tell. It's not just that I'm used to CCS. The woman I spoke to was mean.

Basically I have to make it through one more semester without a writing class. I'm not sure how well this is going to go--I'm already completely apathetic about my other classes. Except maybe my literature class.

Guess what, though. I PASSED LATIN. Not sure what grade I got, but I PASSED.

Guess what else. If I'd failed, I would have been sent home.

That particular tidbit is giving me a bit of a delayed-reaction-panic-attack.

Part V

(^ The brother, being an adorable little creeper.)


(^ Taken from the floor of the amphitheater.)

Part IV

View from the far end of Pompeii’s forum, just outside the basilica. That’s Mt. Vesuvius in the background.

And that's me, inside the basilica. It was pretty windy.

I’m flying off to Paris this afternoon with London with meet up with Lille. It’ll be so nice to have friends around on my birthday, and to be in a foreign city. :)

Part III

The Brother and I after our long, long day at the Naples museum. <3 I was too lazy to get up and show off the pretty statue of the lion. =P

Part II

(This site is driving me crazy. It's not supposed to be this difficult to post a bunch of pictures on a blog.)

The above picture was taken from the circumvesuvia stop at St. Agnello, just outside Sorrento.

The picture below was taken from the steps of the Naples Museum.


I took more than three hundred pictures. ^_^ I loved Italy. Loved sunshine and Christmas and family and especially ridiculous younger brothers who are six feet tall and give their big sisters a piggyback ride through Pompeii’s oldest temple. <3

Roman Holiday

Italy was wonderful. Warm. Fun. Sunny. Exhilarating. Picturesque. Tugged at my heartstrings.

And I got to hang out with the Brother for almost two weeks. <3

This is the view from our first hotel in Rome. We spent one night there, then headed south to spend three nights in Sorrento.