No turning back now.

So this morning I my alarm went off at 8:15AM, and of course I rolled out of bed at exactly 10:15AM. I realized that today was the day I decided I would finally go to church. It has been looming over my head ever since I've been here, and TODAY was the day I was actually going to take action. This late start didn't really help my motivation, but even I was starting to grow tired of all my excuses. So I put on pretty much the only pair of pants I own here that aren't jeans and a suitable shirt, and headed out the door. I decided it would be interesting to experience Bath Abbey, which isn't Catholic, but rather is the Church of England, which I don't really fully understand, but I figured I am in England, so why not? So I get to the church, which is exremely beautiful, large doors, stained glass, organ, the works. I made my way through the tourists, and peeked through the doors and suddenly fear crept in. As I looked in the pews, I realized that I would be the youngest person in the room. I turned to go and then was visibly having an internal conflict as I paced back towards and away from the church about five times before deciding to go in the side doors so as not be as noticible. I picked a seat in the middle, and sat down. My first victory, I had actually made it inside! A few minutes later the man next to me, who looked to be in his middle 30s (probably the second youngest person to me), turned to me and said "Hi, my name is James." I was a little thrown off because A) we were in a church where no one else was talking and B) his voice was quite booming. I returned his hello introducing myself.
Five minutes of silence, and then the conversation went something like this:

James: "So Katie, where are you from?"
Me: "Virginia"
James: "Oh! I've sold areial photos of Virginia."
Me: " Really? So what exactly do you do?"
James: "Right now, nothing."
Me: "Oh..."
2 minutes of silence...I didn't have a quick recovery for that one.

Me: Do you live in Bath?"
James: "Yes."
Me: "Well, I'm just here studying for the semester."
James: "At the university or at Bath Spa."
Me: "Bath University, I mean the University of Bath, wait is that right?"
James: "Interesting."

This is why I should never be left alone in churches, no make that should never be left alone anywhere. But I did enjoy the mass, and James turned out to be quite the singer... I was going to suggest that he join the choir after the mass ended, but he left before the sermon... apparently I scare people off? in church?

I am away from my computer right now.

HangLoosKC: You can't put up an away message that says "I'll be right back" if you are going to be away all day.
MOW36: Yeah I was trying something new.
HangLoosKC: Well, I liked your "I have stepped out to lunch" one better.
MOW36: Yes, but today I actually was out to lunch, so it just didn't feel right.

Bus Etiquette

Ok, as usual I am awkward and today I decided there is a need for some sort of bus etiquette poster to give people like me a little guidence in the ways of the world. Today as I'm coming home from uni, I boarded the bus, which was a little smaller than the "Bright Orange" which I usually ride. I made my way to the back, and realized that there weren't any seats open. I mean there were plenty of seats available, but everyone seemed to be in on some sort of a game to see how subtly they could block other people from sitting down next to them. As I walked down the aisle, I eyed my choices. There was one guy with the newspaper in the seat next to him, another with a backpack, a girl with her hand on the next seat, a guy sitting on the outside seat with his eyes closed (no one ever buys that sleeping gimmick), and then my last option a large guy whos legs took up half the seat next to him. I quickly weighed my options and went for the last guy. In his favor, at least he wasn't taking up the seat next to him on purpose. So I sat down, one cheek on the seat, and waited for the bus to get moving. Then some people I recognized boarded the bus up front in the standing area. You know the people that you say hi to and have side conversations with once and awhile, but not enough to actually know them.

Yes, so I'm sitting there and I don't know whether they see me, and if they do, do they see me looking at them? Am I supposed to wave? If I wave, then what, do I look away after that and avoid eye contact for the duration of the journey? Ok so as all of these questions are going through my mind, I realize now that its too late to wave and that I just have to pretend like I didn't see them. So I spend the 20 minute bus ride staring off into space and looking across the aisle out the window. I'm sure the person on that side of the bus thought I was staring at him for 20 mins, but I figured this was the least of my worries. As the bus finally pulled up to our stop, I realized that the people I had been avoiding eye contact with for the past 20 minutes were getting off at the same stop as me. I slowly made my way out of the bus, and then somehow passed them on the way back to the dorm... Again going with the tactic that it was too late to say hi, and planning that if they said 'hi' I would go with the 'Oh my goodness, I didn't see you guys! How are you?' route. Ok after typing all of this out, I just realized how much of an anti-social loser I am... its surprising that you actually made it this far in reading this. Next time I think I'm just going to say hi right away and avoid this whole thought process.

Always love.

These past few days have been surreal. I never believed anything like this could ever happen so close to home. I remember watching the news when the Columbine tragedy occured and I realize now that I had no clue what they must have been feeling in Littleton, Colorado. I was sitting comfortably at home in Virginia detached completely from the situation. Now eight years later I am sitting in Bath, England while Virginia Tech undergoes this tragedy and it feels so personal. I have been reading all the news articles and watching clips, and at first I didn't believe it. Here I am so far away while all of this is happening, and if I just turned off my computer it almost wouldn't be real. I didn't know any of the victims, but thinking about all the people I know who go to Virginia Tech, it is a God send that none of them were hurt. How would I have felt if it were my brother, my friend, my teacher? I just keep thinking about that over and over and I can't imagine.

It is times like this when I wish I could tell everyone in my life what they mean to me. People that I haven't talked to since high school, middle school, some even elementary school. People that are on my buddy list who probably don't even remember my name. People who smiled at me, waved to me, or did a random act of kindess. I'm sure it would be embarassing to go up to them and actually give them incidences in which they made a difference in my life, but when I think about it, there are so many people that I think deserve to hear it. Maybe one day I'll work up the courage to tell them. But for now, if you're reading this, know that you are one of them.

THE story of the stolen passport.

FLASHBACK ENTRY:
April 7, 2007
Today I was that person. You know the person that everyone hears stories about, but never thinks that it will actually be them. We had just arrived in Rome after taking a day trip to Pisa, and got off the train feeling an urgent need to locate a bathroom. Take note that I am not using the word urgent lightly here. We followed the signs downstairs to a bathroom, and one of the girls I was traveling with stayed in the hallway to watch our bags while we sped towards the entrance. When we got there we were greeted by a toll to get into the bathroom- 70 cents. In my head I'm thinking "YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME," I'm very stingy and didn't feel like giving away my precious and increasingly limited money to use a toilet. We turned around and sped back to where our bags were, grabbed them and left to venture upstairs to use the McDonald's bathroom, which was FREE. We got upstairs and were in sight of the McDonalds when I reached around to feel my bare back. I stopped dead in my tracks. WHERE IS MY BACKPACK?! I panicked. Inside that bag was my life including passport, train tickets, flight confirmations, shot record, birth card: EVERYTHING. I turned and started running back and retracing our path back towards the downstairs bathroom. Samantha, who thank goodness spoke some italian, came running up behind me, and we both searched the hallways endlessly. No sign of my backpack. We split up. About twenty minutes later: nothing. This is when I broke down. Yes in the middle of the underground, I started sobbing. Flashing through my mind was, what is the quickest way I can get the next flight back the the US. Then I reminded myself that I have no idea where the US consulate is and it was nearing 10pm so it was probably closed. This thought made me cry some more. Samantha and I made our way back upstairs, and luckily Samantha wasn't as defeated as I was. She asked someone where the lost and found was, and luckily the guy pointed us in the direction of the police station. This was probably the closest I've ever felt to God because at that moment a plain clothed officer standing outside the office said to me "Katherine?" He was holding my passport. Overjoyed I walked into the office and another plain clothed officer was sitting there with the contents of my backpack spread out in front of him. I couldnt' speak I was sobbing with tears of happiness. Samantha had to answer my questions for me. Finally after we got across the point that nothing was missing, one of the officers went into the back room and handcuffed the thief. Then the plain clothed officers, who must have been undercover cops escorted me and Samantha to their office...which was about a mile away on the other side of the train station. When we got there, I realized that I had forgotten to go to the bathroom in all the the frenzy and I was pretty much about the pee in my pants. I quickly located a FREE bathroom in the police office, and thought to myself that this situation might not have been so bad after all- it did save me 70 cents. All in all I spent about an hour in the police office as they tried to question me and estimate the value of everything in my backpack. The communication barrier might have jumbled up whatever they were writing in the report, but they did give me a copy of it. I can't wait to find someone who speaks Italian so they can translate it for me. The whole time the guy was writing it, there were about 5 other officers looking over his shoulder, some laughing some making suggestions. It wasn't until after everything was printed out and signed that the one female officer asked us IN ENGLISH if we knew how to get to our hostel... I'm guessing that I was the butt of about every joke imaginable over that past hour. Anyway we left, and I kept my passport glued to me for the duration of our trip... LESSON LEARNED.

Are we there yet?

FLASHBACK ENTRY:
April 3, 2007
When we boarded this ferry in Santorini I did not anticipate the intentions of the man sitting exactly one row and three seats to the left of me. No, I know what you're thinking- he wasn't at all attractive. We'll just call him "Papi" for short because he was definitely in that stage of his life. Anyway, at this point I was worn out from our island experience that was finally coming to a close. We had spent the past few days riding donkeys, climbing an active volcano, and contemplating the striking resemblance of our hostel's massuce to the guy in Deuce Bigalow Male Gigolo. This was our second trip on the ferry, and although the first trip was filled with screaming children who's parent's let them run wild...Papi was almost worse. Looking very innocent at first, him and his wife settled down in their seats, and for the first hour or so I hardly even noticed them. Then they came over to where we were sitting and grabbed chairs which they propped in front of them as foot rests... Now that they were confortable- it was nap time. This was the moment I was introduced to the loudest snoring I have ever heard in my entire life... I didn't even know those kind of acoustics were possible. Papi was out- out cold FOR THE WHOLE RIDE. I'm talking an eight hour ferry ride here. His face was plastered in the same expression with his mouth open wide. We tried our best to give some sort of overt signal to his wife to get her to wake him up...she didn't seem to catch on. No matter how loud we commented on the snoring or how obvious our stares were- nada- no reaction. We did everything we could to try to block out the consistent sounds coming from Papi, but our attempts were futile. Even when the NCAA tournament came on TV (random being that we were in Greece?) we just couldn't seem to concentrate. Needless to say the moment we saw lights ahead in the distance, we grabbed our backpacks and headed below deck to stand in the cargo area until the ferry docked. After all of that, all I could think about is, I can never marry anyone who snores, period.

Dear Blog, It's me Katie.

FLASHBACK ENTRY:
March 29th, 2007
I'm sitting here in the Prague Airport and I just heard a Simple Plan song ("I'm just a kid and life is a nightmare") blasting from the "Enjoy Food" station... it made me smile. Caitlin and Liz left for the airport this morning, leaving me to fend for myself for a whole day- SCARY. I walked around all day and pretty much revisited every sight we had seen since being there. I thought it was probably not a good idea to take out my guide book so as not to stand out as such a blatent tourist..even though it seemed that Prague itself was in fact ONLY tourists. Anyway it seemed like every turn I took I somehow ended up back at the Easter market/fair in the city center... I mean who was I to argue- they did sell my new addiction: chocolate covered apples! So anyway, after wandering and wandering for about 6 hours (this includes and hour of facebook at the hostel), I decided to call for a cab to the airport. I figured at least I would be able to sit in a nice warm place for awhile instead of endless walking. About 20 mins after calling for the cab, a guy with bleached hair tips shows up wearing sunglasses.. apparently he is my cab driver. He takes my suitcase, banging it on the door as we left the hostel (good thing I decided against getting the decoartive Czech easter eggs...) We go across the street and it turns out he drives the sketchiest unmarked white van I've ever seen... At this point I'm thinking this has the sniper scenario written all over it. I got into the "taxi" reluctantly and before I know it we are turning down small cobble stone streets & picking up speed by the minute. At this point I ask him, "How long does it take to get to the airport?" Keep in mind this is our first exchange of words on this journey. His response, "Spreken zie Deutsch?" GREAT. He doesn't speak English. I point to my watch, I mean I am afterall a charades champion. He says, "OH! 20 minutes." About 35 minutes later I see a sign for the airport- thank goodness. My death grip on my seatbelt loosened. I wasn't out of the clear however. We turn into the departure lane and are immediately pulled over and there are 5 police surrounding the van within minutes. The taxi driver starts frantically searching for documents and gets out of the van. The police lift up the hood of the van and pull out a flashlight to inspect. Five minutes later the "taxi" driver gets back in the van and starts talking to himself (most likely cursing, but I'm clueless at this point.) Finally the police come back and let us go. I have no idea what we were stopped for, but as soon as we pulled up to the airport I had the money ready in my hand and rapidly grabbed my luggage and ran! Yay for traveling solo?

*If only at this point I knew what was to lie ahead in my travel experiences with the police...