These past three weeks have been incredible. Since I have not updated in a while, this could turn out to be an extremely large post.
During the week from the 4th and the 9th, all that was on my brain was the play. It was hell week, of course, and I didn't get home until about 10 every night. The rehearsals went not so well, and it began to look like the play wasn't going to be too successful. However, when the 8th came, it turned out to be fabulous! The play went up without failure, and ran perfectly; well, with so few mistakes as to not effect the outcome. The next day, Saturday, was even better. First, Brian came over in the afternoon to work on our song for American Studies, which came out fantastic, and then we drove to the school together. Once again the play went off without a hitch. Yet, I found myself in a sort of depression afterwards. I was upset that I was once again un noticed in the play, but that feeling quickly went away. We went out to the cast party at Zach's house, and that was an amazing time! First, there was the drum circle; a bunch of the guys got out their drums, and Brian with his tin whistle, and just went nuts. I was loving it!! After that, they decided to play whiffle ball, but I ended up out in the driveway with a few others from choir, and we sang choir music for like an hour! That had to be the highlight, I must confess. The week that followed consisted primarily of me going insane over trying to get everything together for my trip, and rushing to get my work done for the 3rd quarter ending. Also, Sarah Martin's birthday party was that friday night, and we saw "Finding Neverland." I had a great time, and I hope Sarah did, too! I seem to remember the flying in the movie being describe as, "It's like marching in cut time!" I love it!
Now, on to the good stuff. ITALY!

We left the school at about 7:30 and got to the airport at like 10. We went through security, and I got myself a heart attack. I handed my passport to the guy at the desk, and he stares at it, types some things in to the computer, gets a stern look on his face, calls over his assistant, and they both look confused. At this point, I wanted to die. He tells me then that my reservation was made seperately for some reason, and that they'd give me my boarding pass now. The color had drained from my face as I grabbed my papers back. Unfortunately, I was seated in a totally seperate section of the plane as everyone else. But, Mr.Sweeney offered to switch with me when we got on the plane. I was so grateful for that! I ended up sitting next to Christine and Stephany, who I was rooming with on the trip as well. We had a great time on the way down, when we weren't sleeping.
When we got to Italy, we had to drive all the way down to Sorrento. It took about 3 hours to get there. We stopped at this little bar on the way down, which was very nice. I got a panini, which was basically just ham and cheese on a roll, but it was delicious! I couldn't believe how beautiful the place was, either. The view from the highway alone was breath-taking.
As we got closer to Sorrento, it became obvious how absolutely wonderful the trip was going to be. Sorrento is a resort town located on the Amalfie Coast, and is boardered by the Mediterranean Sea, which has the bluest water I've ever seen in my entire life. I could honestly live there with much ease.
That night, we went on a walking tour of Sorrento, through the pouring rain, in search of an ATM. We had a few stray dogs following us. We learned later that there are no dog pounds in Italy, so the strays just wander. I felt so bad for them, they were all so cute and sweet. After it stopped raining, we went down to the coast to put our feet in the Sea.
The next day we went to Paestum, which is South of Sorrento. It had originally been Greek inhabited, but the Romans took over, and it's now Italian. We saw some neat old temples, a tomb of the unknown, and mostly, some creepy freaking lizards. They're really tiny, and green with spots. They creeped me out! On the way out of Paestum, we went across the street to get a gelato, and I notice this crowd of Italian teenagers swarmed around a bench. Then I realized that sitting on the bench is Willy, Taylor, and Danie. John comes up to me and tells me that they just sat there, and the kids just crowded around them. They didn't speak English, and none of us can really speak Italian, so it got interesting. But, they were communicating rather well with eachother, and by the end, they exchanged telephone numbers and addresses. Will even got one of them to say, "Catch you later, bro!" It was so funny. I know that one of them said that we are all like brothers and sisters. It was incredible to watch. That night, like every night, we just kind of wandered around Sorrento, checking out the sites and the people, and had a great time. After room check, we went out on to our balconies, and I just relaxed out there. John and I talked for a while across our balconies, while members of the group were partying on theirs. In fact, they were out until 2am, at the least.
The next day, we went to Oplantis, Pompeii, and Herculaneum. All three were places once covered by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius. We saw a lot of old ruins, and really got a feel for how they lived. Much of their homes were still in tact, including amazing frescos and mosaics. I loved it, but it did get tiring after a while.
When we returned to the hotel that evening, they refused to give us our keys. They were quite upset about the events of the previous night, and we got a nice talking to by the chaperones before we could regain access to our rooms.
The next morning we made our departure from Sorrento, something I was sad over because I'd fallen completely in love with the town. Our first stop was the archeological museum in Naples, where we saw tons of artifacts taken from the towns covered by Vesuvius. We saw glorious statues, frescos, mosaics, etc... On the way to Rome, we stopped off at Hadrian's Villa in Tivoli. Hadrian had been an emperor in the second century. His villa was immaculate, scaling 250 acres. It contained enormous structures, theatres, baths, pools, gardens, and many other amazing sites.
Upon our arrival in Rome, I was made a little disappointed. Rome was very dirty, and littered with graffiti. Our hotel room was really ghetto, and we all missed Sorrento. When we got in to our hotel room, we came upon a problem. Every time we went in to the room, the lights would turn off after 20 seconds. And, since we were a room of 3 instead of 2, we were on the 3rd floor, and everyone else was on the 2nd and 1st. So we ventured downstairs to try and find someone. We found Erin and Maria's room, and they told us the trick to it. I wanted to go back upstairs to change my clothes and shoes, because I knew we'd be doing a lot of walking that night. But we ended up talking with Erin and Maria for longer than expected, so by the time we got back up to our room, it was too late. We were 5 minutes behind schedule, and I didn't get the chance to change. When we got downstairs, Yolanda (the most amazing tour guide EVER!) brought us to a local pizzeria, where they weren't used to getting tourists at all. They spoke good English, which I was surpised. I, however, do not speak good Italian at all, and accidentally ordered an entire pizza, instead of just one slice. The cute waiter thought it was hilarious, and told me, "Is OK, you have friends now!" After dinner we took a stroll down to the coliseum. It was so beautiful at night!
Next, we headed over to the Arch of Constantine and tried to read the inscription in Latin, but Mr. Higgins couldn't even do it. After that, we strode over to these huge maps on the side of the wall of the Forum Romanum, which depict the spread of the Roman Empire over the ages. We were all really hyper, and in great spirits as we started making our way back to the hotel. All of a sudden, I feel something on my foot. I looked down, and I see a metal rod sticking out of my sandal, and it dawned on me that it was in my foot! I started screaming for help, and it wasn't until I yelled out "Get it out of my foot!" that people actually realized what had happened! Mr. Higgins and Steph grabbed me and brought me over to sit on the wall while Mr. Sweeney pulled the metal out of my foot. It didn't really hurt, and I thought I was fine, until I looked down and saw all the blood. That's when I started to freak out, but I was quickly calmed down. And me, being the rational one I am, started pulling out band-aids, like that was going to do anything! Yolanda hailed a taxi, and a couple people hoisted me up and carried me to the cab. To this, I said, "Wow, I feel like a Roman!" When we were in the cab, I started to get worried about the insurance issue, because I was certain my insurance wouldn't have covered it. Thankfully, the state of Rome did. When we arrived at the hospital, they started talking to me in Italian, and I was completely lost. Yolanda was right there, though, and translated it all for me. She was super! I love that woman!! As we waited to be seen, I couldn't help but laugh over it. Who else would go to the hospital on a class trip to Italy? Yeah, just me. The doctors took me in after a brief wait, cleaned and bandaged my foot. Unfortunately, the skin on the surface had already closed up, so they were unable to clean the inside of the wound. They gave me the discharge papers, which I'm supposed to take to the doctor, but it's all in Italian. I had Mimi translate it for me, though. She was very helpful, too. That night, I couldn't sleep very well. I was full of anxiety, and just decided to take a bath. By the time I went to bed, it was around 3. It was the first night that whole trip that I hadn't slept well.
The next day was supposed to be all walking. The plan was to go to the Forum Romanum, downtown Rome to see the other forums, go inside the coliseum, and then up the Palentine Hill to see the very foundation of Rome. I, however, had been told to do little to no walking. Problem. Mr. Higgins solved that, however, by borrowing a wheel chair from the hotel. This was slightly reminiscent of the chair on wheels experience from Gettysburg, because the hotel's chair was just slightly less ghetto. The side was loose, and all 4 tires were nearly flat. Mr. Sweeney took over with pushing me. He had been an orderly for 2 summers once, so he had experience. Many of the guys offered to help, but he wouldn't let them. Sweeney was having way too much fun, I could tell. We practically went off-roading in that wheel chair. The whole area of the forum and the Palentine Hill was rocky and cobblestone. He had a blast, as did I. We saw a lot of really neat things that day, and I got some great pictures. I was even successfullcoliseum in swindling a gypsy down at the coliseum." He tried to sell me a pair of sun glasses for 20 Euros, but I told him I didn't have enough money. He went down to 10, so I said, "Well, let me see what I have." I opened up my change purse, and literally had 4 Euros in change in there. He said 5, and I got a Euro from Maria. As the guy was getting the glasses, I told Maria I'd pay her back in a second. It didn't hit her at first, and then she started laughing. As we wheeled away, I took out my money purse from under my jacket, which held close to 150 Euros, and paid her back.
That night we decided that we wanted to go out and get a great meal. So a group of us all went out to this place just around the corner of the hotel. I walked it. It took me a little while, but I was able to do it. In total, I think we were a group of 12. The service was excellent, the atmosphere was wonderful (we had a guy sing to us while playing the guitar), and the food was so good, not to mention cheap! We headed back to the hotel, and turned in relatively early.
The next day, our last full day in Italy, was reserved for the Vatican. I donned my dress outfit, which I had purchased specifically for the Vatican, boarded my chair, and headed off. We took the metro to get there, and had to wait a while to get in to the museum. The museum was really crowded due to the Sistine Chapel being closed. The art inside the museum was really gorgeous. We saw everything from Michelangelo, Bernini, Raphael, and Botticelli., to modern art newly added. After the museum, we went in to St. Peter's Basilica. The inside was really gorgeous, and we saw some of the most brilliant art in the world. Christine, Stephany, Erin, and Maria stopped off to make a prayer, and I hung back in the chair. I decided it'd be a nice idea to take a picture of it, and then give them all copies of it after. It came out alright, not as good as I had hoped, but I still find it touching.
Before leaving, we had to see the most brilliant statue in the city; the Pieta by Mich.
So, being the last night in Italy, the girls all wanted to do some shopping. Yolanda brought us to the Via Del Corso, which she said we'd be able to find something at. Unfortunately, we didn't find much. The other girls all got something, but I didn't. This, unfortunately, put me in a somber mood for some time after. When we got back to the hotel, we had a few minutes to get ready for dinner, then we took the metro, again, to get to the Trevi fountain area. We had dinner in small groups. It was Christine, Stephany, Maria, Erin, Ms. Marcisz and I in this cute little ristorante less than a block from the fountain. After a great meal, we went over and had gelato. My gelato contained rum, which I wasn't aware of until I started eating it. It was really good, though! After that, we went back down to the fountain, and I got my picture taken next to it.
Before leaving, I threw a coin in and made a wish, which I really do hope will come true. Then, a small group of us went with Ms. Marcisz and Mr. Higgins to go to the Spanish Steps. There, we took some sexy photo's as if we were models, and I sang Italian Opera, just because I felt like it. On our way back to the hotel, we lost our way, and had to wait for a bus which never came. While waiting, a few of us started singing Dixit Maria, which wasn't as graceful as it usually is. Finally, we gave in and got taxis. Our driver almost ran over a pedestrian, and yelled out "shit." That was funny. Before resigning back to the room, I ran out to a tabachi to get a card for Mr. Sweeney, thanking him for all that he had done for me in the past few days. It had a picture of feet on the front with the word "Amici" spelt out across them. He loved it!
The next morning, we all packed and prepared for the journey home. We said our farewells to Rome, and instead of "arrivederci" I said "A presto," which means see you soon. And I sincerely hope I do.

Since I've been back in the U.S, I've done nothing but sleep and dream of my beloved Italy. I want to go back, and I'd love to live there! But for now, I will just leave.
Today, Monday, I had to take off from school. Besides the fact that I have loads of precalculus to finish, I must go to the doctor for a follow up on my foot. Tomorrow, I return to school, and to my boring life in Winsted, Ct.

This week has been an interesting one, to say the least. All week was CAPT testing for the Sophomores and some Juniors, the ones that didn't pass last year. Basically, every day this week we spent about 4 hours of it in the library doing absolutely nothing. Monday was a real pain, because I was really sick with food poisoning from the previous night, and I really didn't even have to be there that day. Each day we had 2 classes, and on Friday we had 4. So after having the worst day on Monday, I decided to not bother going to school on Tuesday. On Thursday, Tanya got her license; nice! I had a test in Latin III on Thursday, which wasn't too bad.
So, the climax of the week, I guess you could say, was on Saturday. I got up at 6:30.. ugh.. We had those stupid things called SAT's! Well, I get there, and I knew I needed an ID, so I'm digging through my purse, and NOTHING! I had left it at home. With tears and my eyes, and ready to vomit, I walked up to the table and was like "I don't have it! I don't know where it is, I can't believe this!!" So, she looked up my ID on the computer, and I was let in. I thought I was going to die. But they let me up, and already I was so nervous. When I got the test, though, it went away. I was actually surprisingly calm while taking it. The essay was a breeze. It was; "Do people help other people out of their own selfish reasons, or is it out of genuine desire to help others?" I was able to fill up all two pages, and cited Schindler's List and Of Mice and Men, plus I talked about Joseph Carnegie's contributions to the fine arts, and of course, I talked about the Peace Corp, AmeriCorps, Goodwill, and Salvation Army. I could have written a 10-pager on that topic if I had to. It was so easy.
The English portion was actually really difficult, more so than the math, which was rather easy. The English section had words in it that I've never heard before, and even Ms.Poirier said that it was ridiculous. I really hope I did well, and actually, I think I did. I can't wait to get my results, to tell the truth. The college I'm really starting to look at, Lehigh, wants like a 1450 (old SAT, though), so I don't know. I know, though, that I completely owned the writing section. I'll get near top score on that, for sure. The essay, for me, has always been easiest to succeed at.
So, as everyone knows already, the Pope died yesterday. I was saddened, of course. But, I was listening to FoxNews, and they said that Conclave, the process of electing the new Pope, starts in about 2 weeks. This means, of course, that I'm going to be there to possibly wittness either, at the least, the smoke and such, but maybe even the new Pope himself! This really excites me! I was thinking about it today, too. My parents, as just about everyone knows, are FoxNews-aholics. They never turn the channel off! So, when I'm in the Vatican, I'm going to look for the FoxNews guys, and I'm going to say like, "Hey, erm.. my parent's are addicted to Fox, and I KNOW that they're watching right now! Would it be cool if I like, did a shout out or something?" Ok, so I probably won't be put on TV or anything, but hell, it's worth a try! That'd be so cool if my parents saw me in the Vatican! Haha, rock on!
Yeah, so, 13 days until I leave. I'm so excited!!! I still need to get more money, though. I've made like $150 babysitting lately, but my mom's barrowed most of it. I have to get down to my grandparent's house some time this week and see if my grandma can help me out. Either way, though, I'm going to have a great time. I can't wait!!!!