-Where In The World Is Shay?-
So in the short time that my episode was on break, my boys from UT lost the College World Series and Shaq was traded to the Cavs. Well, in the mean time before the Mavericks start trading and make another terrible choice selection, let's get this episode rolling. What's in store? Rome and Venice. The Vatican, Colosseum, Trevie Fountain and sleeping on park benches in Venice is all coming up next on Where In The World Is Shay?
Although we are college students and are used to ramen noodles and late nights, this does not mean we enjoy them. On Friday morning at 1:00 AM, 13 of us abroaders made our way from the bus station to the London Stansted Airport. Our flight for Ciampino, Rome departed at 6:45, arriving just a bit before 10:00. From the minute we landed in Rome, we hit the ground running, as if we were too scared all the famous monuments, statues and paintings were going to leave. Once we made our way to our hostel just minutes away from the Colosseum, we dropped our bags off and
had the following schedule:
-Spanish Steps. These are steps built by Spainards over 300 years ago and is situated atop a hill that gives a beautiful view of downtown R
ome.
Not to be confused with the Parthenon in Greece (which I will be at in less than 2 weeks) This ancient building looks like a typical Roman building from hundreds of years ago. The pillars in the front have signs of wear and tear however show the true beauty of the building. Just like the heart is the most beautiful part of the human body, this is true for this building. Inside, the marble floors and the large opening at the top of the building are breath taking. The opening at the top is the only source of light for this building. When looking up, it seems so far as if it can't be reached.
-The Colosseum at sunset. This monumental building is hands down my most favorite work of art I have seen since I have been here. This structure is of goliath proportions, even in todays world. After seeing Gladiator and being a fan of ancient Rome, this building was a dream come true.
After the break, Ill describe the tour from the inside.
*Insert elevator music*
As the sun came atop the city of Rome, our group was already afoot, maybe not mentally, but physically. Our sc
hedule for the day:
-Tour the inside of the Colosseum. This only magnified my feelings from the previous night. Walking around this structure was so surreal. You could see where the beast were kept and were the prisoners were held. Walking through that Colosseum, you could almost visualize the crowds chanting "Death" unmercifully to the prisoners below.
-Tour the Vatican. It was hard to not get ahead of ourselves and rush down the long beautiful hallways to see the Sistine Chapel, but I am glad we did. We were able to see the entire main building that contains the Sistine Chapel and see all the paintings and statues on the inside. This building is so beautiful, it does not surprise me that the Vatican is its own "state". The Sistine Chapel was something that I will remember for the rest of my life. Take out the guards who constantly shout "no photo" and the hundreds of people, as I stared up at the ceiling t
hat Michelangelo painted mostly on his back, I was hit with yet another revolution. These sites, especially this one, are seen and talked about so much to us as we are younger, we simply put them as unattainable, a far off land that is beyond our reach. Being in the presence of greatness was so moving, it made me once again realize how blessed I was.
After this, our group split up into mini groups and went all throughout Rome. Most girls went shopping, another group that I was in went to the site of Bathe, where when Caesar was ruler, he created a stadium that seated over 300,000 people (The Colosseum seated 70,000) that was used for entertainment. They would fill the stadium with water and Roman ships would be brought in and battle each other. The entertainment is obvious, but the people loved that it showed true death, drowning.
Following this, we made our way to the Catacombs of Rome, which contains bones and mummies from hundreds of years ago from Friars of the church preserving their bodies for the afterlife. The walls were lined with bones and even the lamps were created out of bones!
After tons of gelato, Italian pizza and countless water bottles filled, we sadly got ready to board our train to Venice. This train ride was about 7 hours, from 11:30 PM to 6:00 AM. Although mostly everybody slept, I stayed up most of the time and stayed outside the sleeping compartment reflecting on everything I had seen in the past two days. We have done so much in such a short amount of time, I'm afraid if I just keep going and don't reflect back on everything, I won't remember much of it. This blog is helping me capture my memories and reflect back on them. Through facebook, I have uploaded pictures from all of our excursions and these already bring back so many memories.
-Rome-
Although we are college students and are used to ramen noodles and late nights, this does not mean we enjoy them. On Friday morning at 1:00 AM, 13 of us abroaders made our way from the bus station to the London Stansted Airport. Our flight for Ciampino, Rome departed at 6:45, arriving just a bit before 10:00. From the minute we landed in Rome, we hit the ground running, as if we were too scared all the famous monuments, statues and paintings were going to leave. Once we made our way to our hostel just minutes away from the Colosseum, we dropped our bags off and
had the following schedule:-Spanish Steps. These are steps built by Spainards over 300 years ago and is situated atop a hill that gives a beautiful view of downtown R
ome.-Trevie Fountain. The famous fountain that can be seen in alot of movies. This fountain is even more beautiful in person. It is literally in the middle of the street on the back of a building as if it came out of nowhere. Our group literally stumbled upon it.
-Pantheon. 
Not to be confused with the Parthenon in Greece (which I will be at in less than 2 weeks) This ancient building looks like a typical Roman building from hundreds of years ago. The pillars in the front have signs of wear and tear however show the true beauty of the building. Just like the heart is the most beautiful part of the human body, this is true for this building. Inside, the marble floors and the large opening at the top of the building are breath taking. The opening at the top is the only source of light for this building. When looking up, it seems so far as if it can't be reached.
-The Colosseum at sunset. This monumental building is hands down my most favorite work of art I have seen since I have been here. This structure is of goliath proportions, even in todays world. After seeing Gladiator and being a fan of ancient Rome, this building was a dream come true.
After the break, Ill describe the tour from the inside.
*Insert elevator music*
As the sun came atop the city of Rome, our group was already afoot, maybe not mentally, but physically. Our sc
hedule for the day:-Tour the inside of the Colosseum. This only magnified my feelings from the previous night. Walking around this structure was so surreal. You could see where the beast were kept and were the prisoners were held. Walking through that Colosseum, you could almost visualize the crowds chanting "Death" unmercifully to the prisoners below.
-Tour the Vatican. It was hard to not get ahead of ourselves and rush down the long beautiful hallways to see the Sistine Chapel, but I am glad we did. We were able to see the entire main building that contains the Sistine Chapel and see all the paintings and statues on the inside. This building is so beautiful, it does not surprise me that the Vatican is its own "state". The Sistine Chapel was something that I will remember for the rest of my life. Take out the guards who constantly shout "no photo" and the hundreds of people, as I stared up at the ceiling t
hat Michelangelo painted mostly on his back, I was hit with yet another revolution. These sites, especially this one, are seen and talked about so much to us as we are younger, we simply put them as unattainable, a far off land that is beyond our reach. Being in the presence of greatness was so moving, it made me once again realize how blessed I was.After this, our group split up into mini groups and went all throughout Rome. Most girls went shopping, another group that I was in went to the site of Bathe, where when Caesar was ruler, he created a stadium that seated over 300,000 people (The Colosseum seated 70,000) that was used for entertainment. They would fill the stadium with water and Roman ships would be brought in and battle each other. The entertainment is obvious, but the people loved that it showed true death, drowning.
Following this, we made our way to the Catacombs of Rome, which contains bones and mummies from hundreds of years ago from Friars of the church preserving their bodies for the afterlife. The walls were lined with bones and even the lamps were created out of bones!
After tons of gelato, Italian pizza and countless water bottles filled, we sadly got ready to board our train to Venice. This train ride was about 7 hours, from 11:30 PM to 6:00 AM. Although mostly everybody slept, I stayed up most of the time and stayed outside the sleeping compartment reflecting on everything I had seen in the past two days. We have done so much in such a short amount of time, I'm afraid if I just keep going and don't reflect back on everything, I won't remember much of it. This blog is helping me capture my memories and reflect back on them. Through facebook, I have uploaded pictures from all of our excursions and these already bring back so many memories.
-Venice-
Upon arriving in Venice early Sunday morning, the streets were vacant. The entire city was still asleep when we arrived and we couldn't check in to our hostel until noon. We had 6 hours to kill and nothing to kill with. So what did we do? We find a park close to our hostel, and we all take a bench and sleep on them for almost 2 hours! We were all so tired, we didn't care how comfortable or how out of place we were, we simply wanted a place to lay our heads.
Upon arriving in Venice early Sunday morning, the streets were vacant. The entire city was still asleep when we arrived and we couldn't check in to our hostel until noon. We had 6 hours to kill and nothing to kill with. So what did we do? We find a park close to our hostel, and we all take a bench and sleep on them for almost 2 hours! We were all so tired, we didn't care how comfortable or how out of place we were, we simply wanted a place to lay our heads.Venice didn't contain much sight seeing, only beauty all around. This town is just as you see in the movies with canals running through the city and gondaliers singing their way around in their boats. This last leg of our trip was about relaxing and just getting to relish in our blessings. Shops were raided by our girls, even a few tie shops were raided by a few guys (it was Father's Day). Pizza and gelato were in deep demand and countless supply. We even went for the stereotypical gondala ride where the guys were forced into a boat by themselves while the girls had a blast by themselves. Our poor Gondalier captain was made fun of the entire time by others as his boat passed with 5 guys and the others had women. After jokes were made and feelings were mended, we gladly hit the sack and were ready to fly home the next day to Oxford.
Although we had trouble with traveling back because of delays, I will look back on this trip with such fond memories. My group couldn't of been better and the sites, weather and everything else fell into place like clockwork.
I'm going to wrap this up here. Ireland comes early in the morning and like a typical guy, I have yet to pack. These past two episodes have had a lot of information. I hope you have enjoyed reading them and giving them some time to sink in. I apologize for the gap of time in between, I will hopefully have another when I come back from Ireland that contains our trip and the finality of Oxfam. If any of you are interested, here is the mock website I created from scratch for Oxfam (keep in mind, I did this in a day and its very simple, which is what they are wanting. I realize there are still some kinks, just bare with me!)
And so hobey ho, and off we go
-Shay
Although we had trouble with traveling back because of delays, I will look back on this trip with such fond memories. My group couldn't of been better and the sites, weather and everything else fell into place like clockwork.
I'm going to wrap this up here. Ireland comes early in the morning and like a typical guy, I have yet to pack. These past two episodes have had a lot of information. I hope you have enjoyed reading them and giving them some time to sink in. I apologize for the gap of time in between, I will hopefully have another when I come back from Ireland that contains our trip and the finality of Oxfam. If any of you are interested, here is the mock website I created from scratch for Oxfam (keep in mind, I did this in a day and its very simple, which is what they are wanting. I realize there are still some kinks, just bare with me!)
And so hobey ho, and off we go
-Shay
