reflections on rome, pt. 3

i can hardly believe i've only got a week left in this creative writing program! would it be cliché to say that time flies? if so, i won't. :)

last weekend we had a three-day break from our program so me and a couple friends took the train to venice! as soon as we got out of the train station, we were confronted by water, water and then some more water! it was absolutely beautiful. the downside was the fact that the streets were absolutely overrun by tourists and indeed, mostly american tourists. walking through the busy streets my ears were flooded with loud, yippy, american english save for the occasional horrific (mis)appropriations of common italian phrases. though i love my country and i love the people of my country i'm not gonna lie, i was a teensy bit ashamed of my country folk that weekend.

while beautiful, the list of things-to-do in venice was rather short. we did a lot of shopping (read: WINDOW shopping) and a whole lot of walking but that was about it. and though i know i just talked down on my fellow americans for their shameless touristinessiocity, my friends and i knew that we couldn't justify leaving venice without the obligatory gondola ride. incidentally we wrangled up the most dashing gondoleer this side of the i-dunno-where so any tourist shame was quickly appeased by the sight of his tall, dark and handsome frame (the accent didn't hurt either). despite my signature cynicism, all in all it was a lovely weekend!

while flipping through my pictures from the trip on the train ride home, i accidentally deleted all the pictures in my camera. yes, you read that right: ALL the pictures in my camera. two weeks worth of roman documentation as well as countless other photos i was too lazy to upload were POOF! gone in an instant. the strange thing is, i was immediately at peace with my foolish faux pas. okay, so maybe not immediately since i spent a good two and a half minutes in utter disbelief BUT once that 150 seconds was up i sort of shrugged my shoulders and called that that. honestly, i've never been much of a picture taker anyway and it's actually quite exciting trying to recall the things i did from memory; it feels a bit like piecing together the random details from an extremely vivid dream. i'm hoping to sit down and do a sort of written photo album sometime this summer and i'll likely share the results here. i can't guarantee 1000 words worth but knowing me, there's a good shot i'll come close.

as i mentioned, my program here in rome will be wrapping up in a week (*single tear drop*) and i purposefully left the weeks that followed a little up in the air -- partly because i love the idea of flying by the seat of my genie-pants (they're all the rage here in italy) and partly because i really hate planning things. but in case you were curious, the weeks ahead of me may or may not include the following life-shaking adventures: a possible weekend romp in florence; a week-long 26th birthday extravaganza on the beaches of Greece; three days in London (give or take); three days in Paris (give or take); a possible few days in the Cinquetera; back to Rome for a night or two and then finally (come August 5th) home sweet home! i'm sure my plans have filled your hearts with the utmost pity for my wretched existence so please, do keep me in prayer. ;)