Where the Buffalos Rome

Back safely from Roma! It was a success, if I do say so myself, if success is determined by blood blisters and dead feet. Hate to be dramatic, but I don't think my feet have ever felt that much pain. Worth it! We walked the entire city of Rome in a short three day weekend, and had quite the beautiful experience.

However, I must first tell you of my initial Roman impression.

We get to rome, after smelling every man's undeodarantized armpits in the jam packed bus and being fully concerned about my bags being stolen after this frightening talk about all this stolen stuff. We have all of our luggage (thankfully I've mastered packing light, with only my backpack), we head straight for the catacombs, which was amazing, but pretty draining. We then go straight from there to Museo Nazionale, which was also breathtaking, but draining. And this is where it gets real. Just to briefly set up the scene, we woke up early and had no breakfast, and got word that we wouldn't have lunch until late afternoon. We walk for what seems to be 100 miles (more accurately 3 1/2) to our lunch spot. Feet on fire, we grab our one square of pizza bianca (usually great, but you should at least have a slice for every mile. Just sayin..). I sit down because my feet hate me, getting ready to peacefully enjoy my measly meal by a nice fountain. Sit down, hear someone yelling behind me/ mumbling what seems to not have a positive tone, and she was directing these nasties towards one of my roommates. My roommate comes and sits by me, not quite sure what is going on, and I naturally glance back to see what/who this is yelling french profanities (more elegant than English profanities...but still.), and quickly turn my head back towards my square of pizza. Little do I know, that one glance turned out to be very offensive to her, and she SPAT on me! Hate to be graphic..but all over my legs, arms.....my ONE piece of PIZZA BIANCA! What in the world. And that was my first impression of Rome.

Besides that chaos, it only went uphill. Many museums, statues, sculptures, pastries, caffes, fountains, beautiful architecture, and more. Everything about Rome is pretty ideal.

Dragons and Unicorns

Ciao! I am here in Orvieto, and it is beyond what I expected. I'm speechless. I wish you were all here with me to be in awe at all the beauty. Every corner I turn is the most amazing sight. Cobblestone paths, espresso up the wazoo, organic colors of all the villas, beautiful churches, and the most amazing apartment in the world. So eclectic (pictures above don't do it justice). I only have limited time on the internet, because only 6 (out of 25) are allowed at a time, so these blogs might be petite. I'm trying to learn as much Italian as I can (the girls are getting a kick out of me saying "dieche" every other word...meaning the number 10), and meeting as many wonderful people as I can. My neighbors love us and we love them. Everything is so different from America, but in the best way possible. Everyone talks for days outside under cute yellow umbrellas with their cup of espresso, dinner is about 3 hours, and you rarely see people on phones or their computers. It's absolutely beautiful, and I can't wait for this to get started! Drawing/Designo starts Monday...my 21 BDAY! Party.

Stay tuned! Ciao!

Ps. I've gotten lost every day thus far, but don't worry (mom), it's just making me a stronger person. haha And I am learning my way around so much quicker than I normally would.

Pps. My pictures aren't loading, so I'll try another day :)

Why?

Not quite sure why I have 18 followers, figuring I only posted pictures when I did post, and I haven't posted in almost a year...

Anywho. For all you loyal followers out there, you should now follow my updated, way-more-interesting version of my blog. I'M GOING TO ITALY. Come with me.

emmwalks.blogspot.com

Le Moulin

Stillness is the Move

Here Comes The Sun

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Yes.

To me, these seem like 3 simple steps to success.

Why does the world have to make them so dang difficult?

This book and I would get along just fine.

White horse. Beautiful scenery. Looks ideal.

Serenity.

All Things Wonderful

Sitting With a Stranger

Wonder Moon?

Cannot

Get

Much

Better

Than

That.

Whooo Doesn't

Love

Owls?

Especially This

One.

So

Wise.

Monsters of Folk.

Classssic.

This is brilliant. New inspiration.

We All Need Inspiration.

Just Life

(To: All 1 of you who read my blog, sorry I haven't kept up with this whole blog thing, it's been hard to compete with a published-worthy blogger roommate. But hey! It's summer, I do what I want!)

My thoughts:

Life is short, how are we going to live it? How are we going to bring life to life? People scare me sometimes. I scare myself sometimes. Life scares me many times. Why does life have to be scary? Reality is, bad things happen. But it is also a reality that positivity is welcome. I would not consider myself an overly positive person, but recently I have really put thought into what the recipe to a successful life truly constitutes.

I was highly disappointed with dictionary.com's definition of successful...for those of you who forgot how to pronounce it. --> [suhk-ses-fuhl]

The first one went a little like this:

-Achieving or having achieved success. (Oh really? I thought I learned in elementary school to avoid the word in the definition. Thanks a heap, dictionary.com, wasn't quite positive we were talking about success here)

The second was this:

-Having attained wealth, position, honors, or the like.

Hmmm...I gather this would be the simplistic view of the world. Bum deal, right when I was having hope for our future, this is the definition of success. Apparently success has nothing to do with joy, genuine happiness, serving, or loving. I guess I was fully expecting this, but I like to think, sometimes, that I live in some sort of a Utopian world in which unicorns are existent and humans strive to love one another.

Don't get me wrong, I know that in order to survive in our world today, we must achieve excellence and to be diligent in our studies, but is not our purpose on this earth to bring glory to the Lord and He will provide joy? I really have been putting a lot of time into observing life, enjoying life to its fullest, and exploring the unexplored. Life is one heck of a creation, let's not take it for granted.

Can I just say that I love life?

Orangutan and Hound

This is worth the 3 minutes and 58 seconds of your life to watch this.

It will make your life worth living.

Watch a life changing video here

Joy

Last night after Kaleo, we heard some heart wrenching stories about several invisible children, including Roseline, Margaret, and Ronald. Ronald talked to us about his story, and it truly got me thinking about how much I take life for granted.

Joy was prominent in all of their lives. I envy that joy.

Check out Invisible Children here

Matthew 6:34

"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

I have been worrying about my future a lot recently, but hey! Why? It's hard for me to realize sometimes, but stress is overrated. Honestly. Life would be so much better if stress was not in the equation of life.

My thoughts: Let's focus on loving each other today and dismiss the future factor.

The Yeti

Dear Yeti Hat,

I will either get you for my future child,

or for myself.

Either way, I will own you someday.

Love,

Emma

Words from the Wise

"I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen; not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else." -C.S. Lewis

2009. Black/White Charcoal

"Speak only if it improves upon the silence." -Mohandas Gandhi

Woops

I sat on someone today.

It was Brooke.

Sorry Brooke.

Pearly Whites

You may be thinking pearly white teeth; however, I am thinking nails.

It all began on March 1, 2010...the start of something new. Ever since I was a wee child, I have picked/eaten my nails pretty much nonstop. For 16 straight years, my nails have been nonexistent. However, thanks to God/lent/a psychology experiment/hall mates/Elli/friends, I have made the decision to stop.

Yay! It's great. But so difficult. I have to play with silly putty, hold a water bottle, and write on my hands "NO BITING EMMA". Therefore, I get a lot of comments and questions. I'm okay with that. I would probably ask someone why they had that on their hand. Just sayin...

Anyways, updates will be present. Stay tuned...