Italy

Rome, ITALY

Wow! Rome is beautiful! I like it a little more than the other cities because it is more open, and there are LOTS of trees! We saw the Colisseum today and it is amazing to think about what people did inside of it. We ate these cool "to go pizzas" and they were really good! The weather is getting warmer, too.

We went to this "gladiator camp" today. It was so much fun! The boys were a little more into than the girls =). This amazingly beautiful young man was dressed up in a gladiator outfit and taught everyone how to sword fight. By the end, everyone was pretty good! We had these wooden swords, and learned the different "strike positions". The gladiator's name was Paola, and he was SOO muscly...sigh. =) haha

We had pasta and salad, and some kind of chicken for dinner...it was DELICIOUS! This little Arab boy was our waiter, and I noticed him watching me pretty closely. I didn't think anything of it, though. Everyone wanted ketchup, so I just went ahead and asked. He smiled and said, "NO!" Then he walked off. He came back in a few minutes and held the container out to me. When I reached for it, he pulled it back and asked what my name was!!! I smiled and said, "Heather." He said it and pronounced it, "Kether". We laughed and I said it again, "Heather." He smiled and said, "Oh, I see! Kether!" Teasha said, "No, it is H-eather!" He said Kether again and we just laughed. He smiled at me and asked if I needed anything else. Ryan asked for butter, but was ignored...haha We also had some of the famous Italian Gelato today! Basically, it is ice cream with TONS of sugar. Ryan and Broc absolutely LOVE it.

We had some time to wander and explore. I was walking around with Ryan, Kyle, and a Tennessee kid, Alex. Alex had joined us for our prayer the night before. As we were walking along a street talking, Alex asked if I believed in "destiny". I took that opportunity to tell him about the Plan of Salvation. LOL =) So I started telling him about it, and he seemed really interested. From what he had told me, he sounds like a really good kid, just someone looking for truth. Golden! =)

We also went to a leather shop and received a "demo". The man talked about their leather and then told us we were going to have a "fashion show". I was standing in the back by Andy, hoping I wouldn't have to do it. Suddenly, the man pointed to the back of the crowd, right at me, and said, "The pretty girl in the back, please come forward!" I'm sure my face turned bright red. Everyone shoved me forward and he put a black jacket on me. It was really cute, but I was SO embarrassed!!!

That night, Andy and another guy named Adam asked if I wanted to go walk around with them. I shrugged my shoulders, and they said, "Oh come on! You'll have fun with us! We'll take care of you!" This town was a lot more like home, small and more calm. The rest of the group was planning on splitting up and our guide said we would be safe, just not to be alone. So...I went with them. =) We were just wandering around town. Andy came up and put his arm around me...I looked at him and raised my eyebrows. He gave me a big grin and just kept walking. I rolled my eyes. A few seconds later, we stopped walking and Clayton stopped at some vending machine. Andy kept talking to me, and I didn't think anything of it. Suddenly, Clayton pulled out a lighter and lit a cigarette! I looked at the machine and realized it was a cigarette machine!!! ah! Everyone started walking again, and acted like nothing was wrong. I was shocked! I looked at Andy and said, "You don't smoke, do you?!" He said he didn't, but had before, and thought it was nasty. I was stunned! We were all under 18! "Well, at least they didn't ask me to..."

Out of no where, this carnival showed up. There were a bunch of rides and games, and the entire thing was packed full of teenage boys. "GREAT..." I thought. Andy and Adam walked over to a punching bag thingy that measured how hard you punched. Andy put in some money and smakced it...HARD. "Wow," I thought, "I feel kind of safe with him." hahaha We kept walking around and walked into this little archade thing where tons of boys were. They all turned and looked directly at me. Andy started laughing and just walked in. Adam came over by me and whispered, "Heather, if you want, I can pretend like I'm your boyfriend." I turned to him and smiled, "I am ok, but thank you." =) All of the boys kept watching me and I felt really awkward, so I asked if we could leave, so we headed out. It was shortly after that we realized we were lost. Of course, the guys didn't want to ask for directions, so we wandered around for a while. It started to get dark, so I went into this motel and asked for directions. Within a few minutes, we were back at our motel, thank heavens!

Sarah, Ashley, AJ, and I went on a little adventure the next day. We found a really big market down one street. It reminded me of the Eastern Idaho State Fair because it was just a bunch of booths and stores set up on the street. We were walking by a leather stand and all of the sudden, a weird looking Asian guy cam out and grabbed Ashley' hand. He started pulling her back behind their booth and led her to the building behind!!! Naturally, I panicked!!! I looked at AJ and he was several feet away with Sarah, occupied looking at something. I yelled at him, as I headed around the corner after Ashley. I saw him look up at me, but he didn't follow. The man led Ashley into a building that had leather jackets all ove rthe window. When I walked in, he had her hand in his and he was rubbing his hand on her arm. He was telling her how beautiful she was. I thought, "Ew! What a creep! Get away, Ashley!" I wlaked up and she gave me a pleading look. I said, "Come on, Ashley, we need to go." She stepped toward me and the man grabbed her arm. He told her that she was so beautiful and so he would give her a grea tdeal on a jacket. She told him she only had 70 Euros, and he said he'd sell her a jacket for that. He found a red jacket and started putting her arms in it. As he went to zip it up, he kind of pulled her shirt up! The whole while, stroking her arm with his other hand!! CREEP! She looked at me with a sick face, and I thought, "I better go get AJ." Then she shook her head, she didn't want me to leave her. She agred to buy the stupid jacket, and just as she paid, AJ and Sarah walked in. The man went to Sarah and started touching her and pulled her over by the jackets. He said he'd sell her one for a great deal. She told him she didn't know if she had enough money on her card. He took the card from her hand and walked over to the register. He swiped the card and said it only had 10 Euros on it. She said she didn't have any other money to pay for the jacket. He said, "Well, we have charged the 10 euros to the store, so now you can get a purse or something for 10." I was appalled!!!! She said she didn't want a purse, she wanted her money back. He replied that they could not cancel the charge, the money had already been taken, did she not have more money? She opened her purse, "No, I don't have any other money." Then the creep reached in her purse!!! She didn't do anything!!! He pulled everything out and started looking at it all!!! THAT WAS IT. I had had it!!! I slapped his hand

(hard) and said, "Get out of her stuff!" He put everything back. Sarah got a really irritated, nervous voice and said, "Look, just give me the ten euros back." He replied, "Oh, I will give you 5 euros. We have a service charge for running the card, it cost us." AJ finally piped in and said, "Hey man, just give us the 10 euros, ok?" The man refused to give her 10 back, so I said (in a very irritated voice), "Do you want us to go get help from the authorities?!" He shook his head quickly and said, "No! No! No!" Sarah finally gave in and received 8 euroes, then we left. It was quite the experience.