Reminiscing about Rome

*The text in 'Emily Turquoise' is from the blog and mind of Emily Abel, writer and friend extraordinaire*

It was a typical Sunday afternoon. I was relaxing at home with my family, enjoying that gentle spirit that follows a beautiful church meeting. Later in the evening, mom and I planned to attend the missionary report by a son of an old friend of hers. Prior to our leaving, I received a text from Golda that blew a giant bubble of glowing excitement in my chest; but my practicality smashed it back down in an instant. The message said something like: 'Come to Italy with us. We found cheap plane tickets. Please?' It really was laughably simple--only Golda would make a cross Atlantic flight proposal through a text. As much as longed to live my way through an European adventure in person, not just through Golda's Instagram, I didn't allow myself to get excited. This sort of thing doesn't happen to me! My family stays home and enjoys a nice documentary on bee-keeping in the Alps, we don't actually fly there! Plus, on all fronts this was not ideal timing. This trip would mean missing three days of school only two weeks before final exams. Nothing in that sentence resembles responsibility. Spontaneous, adventurous and dreamy are all there, but not responsibility. Not to mention the fact that flying to Italy is not exactly in a college freshman's budget plan. (Or it wouldn't have been if I was responsible enough to actually make one;)) All that should explain my initial resistance and incredulousness to Golda's offer.

To make a long story short, I had one day to make the decision before plane ticket price would jump up. On the drive to the missionary report, mom and I analyzed this opportunity up down and inside out. One moment had me short of breath with the thought this could actually happen, but the next

I was folding my arms firmly stating I couldn't possibly. In the end, it actually my mom's insistence that pushed me to buy the ticket. She just looked at me and said, "You need to do this." And I knew she was right. So there in the car I threw responsibility out the window and laughed as it flew away-- I was going to Europe!

Can we all take a moment to realize how hilarious this is? Stretching out the quadsssss. My mom and I reading this Roman sign in the exact same position. Like mother, like daughter
That night we girls went alone to the Trevi fountain. There we had more pizza and gelato. As we sat by the water, three Italian boys came up and started talking to us! One was cute but didn't speak any English. The other two weren't too cute but spoke a little more. They were very flirty and wanted our numbers. We were all just giddy afterward is was so exciting. We skipped back to the apartment elated with our adventure. I mean who doesn't want to flirt with Italian boys at the base of the Trevi Fountain!? Straight out of a movie :)

I got a little sick to my stomach on the plane ride which was followed quickly by a bus ride. My stomach threatened to present itself on the bus floor, but thankfully we got off before the big debut. When we got off the bus, everyone was like 'wait,what?' It was dark, cold and not much was in sight. We laughed and start walking. Us girls lapsed into  British accents--it just seemed  appropriate haha :) As we walked we must have taken a wrong turn because we ended up in a snow globe.

Let the memories of caroling down the streets arm in arm with Golda and Ash stay as poignant as they are now. In those moments everything was perfect. Oh I almost forgot! For dinner we went to the most warm, welcoming yet posh restaurant in the world. We all ordered giant gourmet burgers with fries and the best fry sauce I've ever had. So much contentment at that table that evening. I can still see the exposed brick walls, the cute waiter, and the warm glow of it all. Hmmmm..