I feel like I'm in a sunflower. And I love it.

Ciao!

We're in ROMA!!

Barcelona was good, but we stayed there way too long and were definitely ready to move on. There's only so much to see there! And everyone at our hostels basically SUCKED- they were so loud ALL night, we hadn't slept in forever. We were pretty burnt out by the time we left.

We took an overnight ferry last night, which was super nice. I can't believe, we paid 44 euros each, and the boat was like a cruise ship. There was a pool, 2 bars, a cafeteria, resteraunt, spa, etc. It was nutso! But we just had seats (like an airplane), so we barely slept at all.

When we finally arrived in Rome (2 hours late, though we had no idea what was going on because everything was said in Italian), we got off the boat and stood around with 4 other people who spoke english, and then this massive group of people. We assumed we were waiting for a bus to take us to the train station, but no one said anything to us. We were freezing, exhausted, starving, and so frustrated being unable to communicate with anyone! There was this sweet older man trying to speak to me in French because that was our only common language, but he barely knew any, so that didn't get us anywhere. So we just stood around freezing our butts off. And then this huge bus came, and EVERYONE else got on. They were an organized group! So me and Tara and the few other people who spoke English stood there like idiots. We walked and walked and finally found a train station, and then figured out our tickets. About an hour later, we arrived at our station and WALKED some more. No one speaks English here, so it's really difficult to get around. We FINALLY found our hostel, thank GOD, but they didn't take cash, so we had to go back out in the cold and find an ATM. The first 2 we went to didn't work. We were running around Rome like idiots in the freezing cold trying to find cash, and I was just about ready to book a flight home. That was definitely the closest I've been to a breakdown. I was planning on coming back to the hostel and crying and crying until the guy gave us a bed for the night. Thank God Tara is a fighter and realized that wasn't our best plan. We FINALLY found a working ATM and sprinted back to the warm hostel, where we were given AMAZING beds and a STEAMING hot shower. We ran to the showers (my hair was a greasefest). I stood there, with the water on SCAULDING hot to ease the tension in my back, for basically forever. I was almost in tears, literally, from happiness of just having some comfort finally. My feet hurt so bad, I couldn't even stand on my heels. I curled up in bed and just laid, being the most thankful I've ever been to have the warmth and coziness. As EHXAUSTED, EXHAUSTED as I was, I wanted to take time to lay and appreciate it.

But laying there, I realized something huge. As you-know-what of a day that it was, it was worth it. I'm in ROME. I'm in Europe, having an incredible, priceless adventure, with a great friend. If days like yesterday are well worth it, it says a lot about the experiences I'm having.

ANYWAY, we slept for 11 hours. Actually, I think I was in a coma for 11 hours. And now I feel a trillion times better. We're going to just hang out today and try to recover from everything, and then really start sight-seeing tomorrow. It's so nice to be able to add and subtract days as we please.

I'll write more when we really start seeing Rome! How exciting! Love you all!

Emily xo