ouchhh (and roma)

today i fell on my way to school. i was walking the same way i do everyday, when all of a sudden i stepped on some ice and went flying. i landed on my butt sooo hard. i couldn't even feel embarrassed because it hurt so much. after the initial shock, i stood up and hobbled to school. it still hurts.

but all pain aside, i had an amazing time in rome last weekend even though the snow tried to ruin everything. pretty much everything shut down because of the weather, including museums which made no sense at all. i can understand the colosseum being closed because it's outside, but museums? when it's rainy and snowy that's where people want to go! but luckily the churches didn't close, so that's where we spent a lot of our time. we also ate and drank a lot. i did make it the vatican and was able to see the sistine chapel... so incredible! it's hard to imagine someone painting that, especially since after ten minutes of looking up my neck hurt so much!
but rome is now one of my favorite cities...  it didn't seem as big as i thought it would be, epscially compared to paris. paris definitely seems bigger and more spread out. but it was awesome how there are just ruins in the middle of the city or in between two new buildings. it also is sort of grungy which i think gives it a lot of character. it's not dirty, it's just not spotless and perfect. but everything was really beautiful, especially the piazzas (plazas) which all had amazing fountains. can't wait to go back someday!

monachil

right now i'm really excited about going to rome so if this post doesn't make that much sense i'm sorry! ahhh i'm so excited!!!

but anyway, this past weekend was great! even though it was the coldest it's been so far, a few friends and i went hiking in a little pueblo nearby called monachil. i had been there when i studied here but wanted to go again. it is such a beautiful place! the trail isn't too hard either (even though i was a little achy the next day). there's a really cool indiana jones-looking suspension bridge that you walk over... it's kind of scary because it feels like it could snap at any second! after you walk through a cavernous area, you are out in the open where there are wild cows and bulls roaming around. we were walking on one side of a ravine and as we went around a corner we looked up... there were two cows and a huge bull blocking the path, so we decided to double back and cross to the other side. better to not mess with a bull. but it was really nice to get out of the city and get a change of scenery! here are some pics...

la gripe

la gripe (pronounced gree-peh) is the spanish word for the flu. isn't that the most sinister sounding word? it sounds like the plague or the black death (same thing?) or something else equally as horrible. right now a ton of people are getting "la gripe." i really hope i don't get it