The Forgotten Post

Wednesday October 19th.

Woke up. Had breakfast in the hotel, bread and cereal, shocker. Hopped on the bus again and this time had a tour of Luxembourg from the bus, luckily since the European weather was finally catching up to us. There was some walking tour that included the  Luxembourg American Cemetery and Memorial. The place was flooded with white crosses and some had golden writing meaning they were medal of honor recipients, there were ones with the Star of David and there would be white rocks on them that the family members put there in remembrance, and there were even a couple of graves for unknown soldiers. It was a beautiful sight, however it was also sad. 

Got back on the bus and drove into the town of Luxembourg and walked up to the presidents house, literally touched the door because their crime rate is so low that they don't have to worry about security, I kid you not. Then we were set loose, Mike and I went into some little burger shop and had delicious burgers where they opened the buns and put the lettuce, onions, cheese, and burger out and put the fries inside the burger and topped it with mayo. You had to eat the fries before the burger, goodness it was delicious. Then Mike and I went and met up with the group and waited for our bus to arrive. Once it did we were off to the next hotel in Brussels, dropped off our bags and got back onto the bus and drove to our last group meal. Sad. A place called  De Moedermeule  (The Mother Mill http://www.moedermeule.be/index.php) We sat down and had a 3 course meal, none of it was good, seriously I barely ate but it was all worth it because our teacher Prof. Dr Liliane Van Hoof showed up and we then had a graduation. Got a certificate of completion for studying at The University of Antwerp, a group picture and a hug. Hopped on the bus for the final time. Went back to the hotel and had to pack my stuff into two bags, one to stay in a locker in Brussels and one to go to Italy with me. Played Farkle and tried watching a terrible movie called Talladega Nights with Sara, Ali and Katie. Then goodbyes and goodnights.

Thursday October 20,

Woke up. Before the crack of dawn and say bye to my buddy Mike. 7 of us are now off on our owns this time to Rome, Jenacious Bogart,  Amanda Olek, Alyda Hultstrand, Michelle Full, Sara Jensen, Sharon Boots and myself, Cram all our stuff onto a shuttle bus to the airport. Uncram and find lockers to hold our bags so we don't have to pay a fee for bringing another bag on our flights. Got through security and hop on our connecting plane to Amsterdam.Once we walked outside we smelt you-know-what right away, I didn't think it was going to be like that, fooled me. Grabbed a taxi and were off to the Anne Frank House, when we got there, there was a huge line with an hour or two wait at least so we said pass and stayed in the taxi to the Heineken brewery and  checked it out and then the group walked to the Hard Rock Cafe took pictures and such. Walked through some random stores where I found a Rick Astley record and contemplated buying it, didnt in the end. Then we were starving so we went to McDonalds. Walked through some souvenir shops, nothing but pot stuff everywhere. Took a walk through the Red-light District luckily it was daytime and we didnt see the raunchy stuff. Saw one lady in a window wearing almost nothing and a few marijuana seed shops and a place called Coffeeshop Reefer, made me laugh. Made our way back to the airport and hopped on the plane to Italy.

Once we got there we somehow managed to buy train tickets from the airport to inside the city of Rome. Hopped on a train and then another train, hoping we were going to the right place. It's late and we are now walking around Rome looking for our hotel, when we found our destination it wasnt a hotel, it was an apartment that someone was renting us for a few nights and it was BEAUTIFUL! 3 bedrooms, patio, living room, dining room, kitchen, 2 bathrooms. Poor Jen and Sara had a queen bed to hard that they should've slept on the floor instead, my twin bed was so soft! Then the 7 of us went out for food, we found a pizza place that had pizzas for 5 euro each, we were all over it. It was delicious although we were confused by two things. 1. A guy came around and put toys on our table, then collected them after a few minutes. 2. the bill was a lot higher than we thought, turns out you have to pay for napkins and plates, boo. Went back to the residence and crashed.

Friday October 21st

Woke up. Went to a little market and bought the breakfast/lunch for less than 2 euro. Our residence was only 3 or 4 blocks from the Vatican so thats where we first took off to. We got stuck though, a road that had a ton of lanes and no lights for pedestirans, then we realized stairs that go underneath the road. Duh. Walking up to the Vatican gave me goosebumps. It was amazing. Took tons of pictures and just stood there taking it all in. Then some guy walked up to us telling us he's a booking agent for a company that can get us into the vatican without waiting in the atleast 4 hour line all we had to do was follow him. We got a 15 minute pretour by a lady in the same agency. This was going against everything we were taught the entire trip 

1. If someone comes up to you and talks to you in English

2. Don't follow people if they ask you to

3. Stay in public don't go where people can't see you

4. Don't give out money

5. Everything is a scam!

So we started to follow him to the agency but when we arrived they lady was yelling at a guy because he was mad that they'd waited over an hour. So I decided I was out, Jen, Olek and Boots also pulled out of it. So we went back to the vatican an got on a double decker bus that takes us around the city with an audio tour. It was a tour that you could hop on or off at any stop, so we stopped at the Hard Rock Cafe and the ladies had some drinks and bought souvenirs. Then we hopped back on and the 3 girls got off at the Coliseum. I stayed on and went back to the vatican to meet up with the girls that went through with the agency, they said it wasn't a scam and was well worth it. We all hopped on the bus and went through the city and hopped off at the Trevi Fountain, it was ginormous and of course made my wish. Back to the bus and stopped at some random big building for a potty break, little did we know there was a sweet church at the top of the building. After climbing what seemed like a million steps we were looking over the panoramic of the city, one of my favorite sights of the entire trip. Then Jensen asks whats in here and we go through a door and come across the church. It was white and marble and looked like none of the other churches we were in before. Ran to catch teh bus, sorry Jensen and your bad ankle. And got off at the Coliseum, by now it was getting dark out and the place looked better than in movies and pictures. Hopped on the last bus of the night ending at the vatican and walked back to the residence and met up with the other girls. Since it was Michelle Full's 21st birthday the 7 of us then went to find food. Found a pasta place and ate some mushroom pasta thing, I'll say it, FRICKEN YUMMY! And we all shared some wine, still not my thing. On our way back to the residence we stopped at a gelato shop where the two men working were priceless. We even sang to Full in the gelato shop with the workers, good times. Note to self, Nutella gelato is pure gelato. Made our way back to the residence. I showered when we got there and managed to get everything wet, walls, ceilings, floor, painting, mirror, toilet, toilet paper. It was a total fail. Then I watched some WWE in a foreign language and went to sleep.

Saturday October 22nd and Sunday October 23rd

Woke up. Little did I know this would be the longest 48 hours of my life. Everyone broke into little groups, Jensen and I heading off on our own. Went to the vatican and jumped on a bus to tour one more time. Stopped at the Hard Rock so she could souvenir shop and I was on a mission for a souvenir and at basically the last place there was to look, found it! As we were walking to the bus stop Jensen asks about the line forming outside a church. I asked an older lady who loved my hair and was told it was a crypt full of monks, yep you bet we went in and it was sick, in a good and bad way. Skulls and bones were everywhere. Then back on the bus, stopped at the Coliseum once more and watched all the vendors run from cops, hilarious.Went back to the residence and grabbed our bags and bussed to the train station, had some McDonalds and then hopped on a shuttle bus to the airport, only cost 7 euro thanks crabby guy who's name tag said free service. Got through security and went flew back to Brussels. It was a little after midnight and we then had a 11 hour layover until our next flight. 

So we slept in the airport, and by slept I mean layed on the floor freezeing and sleeping maybe 20 minutes. Somehow time passed and we had to get our luggage out of the lockers that we'd left there days before. We get there and pray our stuff is still there. It was. Now we had huddle and unpack and repack and throw things so our bags would make weight, somehow we did it. Made it through security and waited for our flight to be called, nope it was moved so we moved to another gate and then hopped on our plane back to the beautiful Untied States! USA! USA! USA! Watched a few movies on the way back, tried to sleep, no luck. We arrive in Chicago and have a 3 hour layover, BEST LAYOVER EVER! I was in the Chicago airport watching Tim Tebow start his first game of the season against the Miami Dolphins. With under 3 minutes left and down by 15 Tebow Time first happened, he threw a TD and recovered an onside kick and scored another TD and converted the 2 point conversion with a deisigned QB run. Then in OT we kicked a FG to win. FELT SO GOOD TO BE BACK IN THE US! Then our flight was called and we hopped on a tiny plane where the flight attendant was telling us how hung over she was, it was awesome. After a flight less than 2 hours we could see Fargo. Got off the plane to be welcomed home by what can only be described as a parade of family and friends. Thanks Mom, Dad, Amber, Sam, Julian, Brady, Joe, Saucy, Maddie, McDougall, Hillary, Caitlin, Adam and Brandon for being there to greet me. Sorry I was kind of crabby, I had just gone 48 hours without more than 20 minutes of sleep, I had nothing left to run on. 

12 new countries, 13 new friends, 1 Dubya, 7 pounds lost, $1,000 in spending, countless miles walked, even more flying and driving, 5 of the best weeks of my life. Worth every second.