Posts from Zoe
Being a Tourist in Paris
In Spain, we would just hang around the house most of the time. I mean, we would venture out into Valencina, Jerez, Seville, and Huelva occasionally, but we hung out most of the time. Paris was completely different. We were tourists. We tried to cram every exciting thing into a tiny two day span. It was exhausting, but I don’t regret anything.
We started our touristing by waking up at seven o’clock in the morning and putting on two layers of clothes. Two pairs of pants, one long-sleeve shirt, and a sweater for me. We did not really pack for winter and fall, so we had to improvise. It was pretty chilly in Paris. It was just starting to get colder for fall, and it was about fifty-ish degrees fahrenheit. That morning we set out on a mission: Louvre here we come. My dad said that the Louvre was impossible to see all in one day, but I didn’t believe him until I saw it for myself. As we approached the biggest (meaning widest and lengthiest) building I have ever seen, I started to believe him. We grabbed our tickets and went inside.
Gianna had been asked to make a list of what she wanted to see. She narrowed it down to two loose sections. Islamic Arts, and the Roman, Greek and Etruscan section. Mama made a very good suggestion: GET TO THE MONA LISA FIRST. That is exactly what we did. We high tailed it all the way through the Italian section, and through the giant crowd of tour groups. BOOM. There it was. We took pictures and made many pushes and shoves to get back out again.
We walked for the entire day, and by the end, we were extremely tired. The next day we got up later and skipped lunch because we had breakfast at noon. We then set out for the tower, the Eiffel Tower. I couldn’t believe it. We were actually going to see the EIFFEL TOWER!!!!!! I was overjoyed at the sight of it. We didn’t go up in it because we weren’t that interested, and the very top was closed. After hanging’ around, we traveled to the catacombs. We waited in line for an hour and a half, but didn’t make it in. It closed entrance before we got in. Overall, we tried to do absolutely everything, and we had a great time.
Itálica in Spain
The Itálica site is an ancient Roman town near Santiponce, Spain. The ruins of the town are spectacular and definitely worth seeing. There is everything from an amphitheater to bath houses. Everything is beautiful, and it truly takes your breath away. Even better, E.U. citizens are free, and any other nationality is 1,50 euros! (No, the comma is not a typo, it's the European decimal point essentially.) You will see astonishing sites wherever you may look. 
The town of Itálica was established in 206 BC. The town was situated along the Guadalquivir River, which made farming and sewage systems very easy to maintain and use. However, the river eventually changed course, and abandoning the city, so to speak. Therefore, the people left too. While they were there though, they built some pretty cool things.
The main thing that draws in the tourists is the amphitheater. It was made to seat about 25,000 people, but the town only had 8,000. Most of the amphitheater has been excavated, and you can see the pillars in the front and the stairs are almost completely intact. It is about half the size of the Roman Colosseum! There is a lake right next to the gorgeous structure, but is has been dammed so the archaeologists could dig up the remains. You can walk a (steep) path to the top of the land behind the amphitheater, and receive amazing views, or, you could stand in the smack middle of it and take a panorama. It is beautiful and breathtaking either way.
I absolutely loved spending time at the Itálica and it looked pretty awesome. I liked walking through the farms and seeing the old roads the most. I thought that it would be pretty cool if we spent a weekend or so and lived like the Ancient Romans did. If we wore their clothes, lived in their houses, and did their jobs we would have the true experience of being an Ancient Roman. The Itálica was amazing, and I am really glad we got to see it.
Missing Home
I miss home. I am starting to realize more and more that I am hiding it without meaning too. I have started to notice that I do one of two things when someone mentions something that I miss about home. I either continue on with the topic and recall great stories from that place, time or person, or I make a joke or change the topic in some way. I either talk about it so much it becomes annoying, or I change the subject immediately. I miss everything that I left.
I mean, traveling the world is great, and a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and that requires sacrifices, and I wouldn't regret coming on this trip for a second. I just miss those lunches where we wouldn't even finish our food because we laughed all lunch long. I miss the sleepovers where all the secrets came out the later it got, and were all forgotten by morning. I miss those PE days where we would talk through the whole class and dodge the occasional ball. I miss those walks to the bus stop in the middle of February when we talk about life and problems and get it all out. I miss the Friday night parties when we'd walk home at midnight and crash in our beds. I could go on and on, but I won't because it's annoying when someone goes on about their problems forever.
I have talked to people over the phone, Google hangouts, Instagram, and text. It's not the same as going to school and seeing over 300 people you recognize in a day. It's a pretty drastic change when you go from seeing everyone everyday, to seeing absolutely no one you recognize for months at a time. It's like being left on an island, with everything you need to live, including your intermediate family, but without anyone else. It's like being surrounded by a pool of people, who can't speak, and don't want to be friends with you anyway (I'm not saying that Germans don't want to be friends with us, I'm just trying to prove a point). After a while, I can definitely say that our family has gotten closer, and that's a really nice thing but, you need variety in your life.
I am seeing now though that I can make it through this trip and be okay. It has almost been three months since we left, and they have flown by fast. This tells me that the remaining nine-ish months of travel will fly by as these have. I am excited to see the rest of the world, but I am also very excited to come home and see my friends.