Slanted Rays

Hello, friends! On a small editorial note, I have finally returned from study abroad! I haven't been updating my blog recently due to final exams, the difficulty of packing up all of my belongings, my vacation to Prague and Munich, and my general inability to accurately estimate how long any given task will take. However, I'm hoping to blog more frequently now that I'm back home, and I am contemplating blogging daily until I have to leave for camp. Let's move on to the travel content! As it turns out, Sunday is not the best day for traveling in Rome. Nearly everything is closed, and activity options are somewhat limited.  Our morning plan was to visit the Pantheon, and we were happy to find that there was virtually no line in order to do so. Just a few minutes after we entered and started looking around, an announcement that I didn't fully understand played. We ignored it, and continued to wander around and take photographs. Soon, an employee came by

Hello, friends! Two weeks ago today, one of my friends and I had our first full day of travel in Rome. After spending the night at the outskirts of the city, our first task of the day was riding a bus, and then the metro, into the city center of Rome. Upon our arrival, we ate lunch on the terrace of an Indian restaurant near the metro station. We were seated next to a very friendly man from South Africa. Although his initial greeting of "Hey, ladies" gave me some cause for concern, we had a good conversation. I was surprised by the number of people selling chargers and selfies sticks who walked up over and over again as we ate. After checking into our AirBNB, we visited the magnificent and expansive Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica. I was not expecting to visit this cathedral, and I was overwhelmed by the beauty and ornate detail of everything inside it. This beautiful stained glass window set the tone for an absolutely breathtaking church. I feel like this angle

Hello! This post is literally just Grumpy Lydia complaining. If that sounds miserable, congratulations! You have my full permission to click away now. If that sounds like something you wouldn't mind reading, please enjoy and/or suffer through this list of Lydia's Miseries. I was on vacation in Italy all last week, which means that there are many lingering tasks that have not been completed. My flight was delayed on Monday, which means that I missed class, which has led to me being even more behind.  Housing selection was yesterday, and I am trying to force myself to come to terms with the fact that I'm pretty much definitely going to be living alone next year, which will contribute to my depression next year and makes me feel lonely in the present. There are just, like, a lot of lingering thoughts that I cannot find the words to write about.  It is cold and wet and sad outside, which means that a Self-Imposed Walk to Help With Lingering Sadness would probably jus