.. and now to the "Redneck Riviera"

And here I am now, staring out at Bay Point Marina in Panama City.

Mom and William and I have been down here since Sunday and have had so much fun hanging out with Hailey, A.D., Uncle Archie, Aunt Laurie, and my grandparents, Pop-Pop and Dear.

Here's how the day typically goes:

-sleep in until 10
-gradually fall out of bed and watch the Today show
-pack up the boat with sandwhiches, beach chairs, etc. around noon
-head to Shell Island (a barrier island here that forms St. Andrews Bay. No structures on it. Just 7 miles of beautiful white sand beach).
-attempt to correctly anchor the boat; get yelled at for not tying ropes correctly or not throwing the anchor far enough..
-eat lunch
-walk over to the Gulf (the best part of the day). Here, I feel as though I'm a fish myself. The water has been very clean and clear and has that beautiful turquoise color.
-take a walk down the beach. talk about life with Hailey or other family members
-walk back to the bayside
-read my book while sitting in beach chair (currently: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society)
-realize i'm getting red. apply more sunscreen.
-read more.
-around 5-6ish, leave island
-return to Bay Point
-hose off boat
-shower
-relax :)

of course, this is just a typical day for us Thorpes, Bowens, and Carmichaels. Some days, we go snorkeling. Here's William and I about to snorkel the jetties on our first day down here:

practicing my synchronized swimming..?

A funny anecdote from yesterday:

[As Mom, Aunt Laurie, and William and I are swimming in the Gulf, we are suddenly bombarded by a school of baitfish. Though they are not biting us, they keep aggressively bumping into us. They even got caught in my bikini!]

William turns to me and says, "Elizabeth! I think there's something wiggling in my pants!"

Me: "It's probably a fish!"

Mom: "William, are you sure that's a fish?" :p

[Later that night as we are dining at Captain Anderson's, William tells us he had an interesting showering experience. Once he got into the shower and removed his bathing suit, a small dead fish fell out into the tub! Poor little guy..]

Erin, Hailey, and I snorkeling

I've been learning how to drive the boat while I've been down here. I figured I might as well learn sometime! After all, we ARE borrowing Uncle Charles' old boat..

On the Fourth of July, we all went out in Uncle Archie's boat to watch the fireworks over the bay. I can't recall how many Fourth of Julys I've spent doing this every year, and it's still a lot of fun. While the adults hung out with each other and "the Couple" [Hailey and Justin] did their thing, William and A.D. and I spent some quality cousin time together stargazing. A.D. THINKS he knows a lot about stars..

Happy Birthday, America! Lookin' good at 235

Uncle Archie's boat before we attempt to attach our boat on the Fourth

"a Bay Point sunset," as Dear calls it

I guess that's all for now! The Billfish tournament starts tonight and goes through this weekend, so I'm sure I'll have an update later this week :)

from the Italian Riviera to the "Redneck Riviera.."

It's been too long! 

So much has happened since I last blogged that I felt overwhelmed and have have hardly had a minute to type out my thoughts and observations. Well.. okay, I have had some down time. But I've either been napping, reading, or working on my crossword puzzle book. I guess today I'm feeling.. descriptive?

Okay, ROME:

Our last days in Rome were spectacular!

On Wednesday, we went to the Vatican Museums and St. Peter's Basilica. While there's so much to tell about what I saw that day, I'll just cover the highlights. 

In the Vatican, I really enjoyed the Raphael rooms and a giant map room that had maps of all the provinces of Rome. I remember learning about the provinces in Mr. Rau's Latin class in high school, and it was cool to see how ancient yet accurate they were. I even found fair Verona on one of the maps!

Unfortunately, I lost our tour guide in the Egyptian room, and latched onto another group of kids from my study abroad group (Lizzie and Lanier had quickly run through the Vatican and gone to lunch. I don't think they're really into museums!) I knew the Pope was supposed to speak at 11 a.m., and I told some of the kids in my group we should head out if we wanted to hear the Pope. Someone thought they knew a shortcut, but sadly the shortcut didn't work out and we didn't get to hear the Pope speak. I was devastated..

Fortunately, our small group later found the big group with our awful tour guide as they were about to enter St. Peter's. And so into St. Peter's I went.

There are very few words to describe the beauty of this masterpiece. I just ambled through on my own, gaping at the vastness of the Basilica and, of course, trying to translate the Latin on the upper walls. 

Later, after I had seen where all the Popes were laid to rest below St. Peter's, I was happy to find a gift shop where I bought a pretty rosary from one of the nuns. I already told Lisa, my devoutly Catholic friend and roommate for this fall, that it's going in our room!

As I mentioned before, I was sad not to see the Pope speak. HOWEVER.. the last night of our program, Martin (our trip coordinator a.k.a. my 3rd grandfather) took us all to dinner at a really nice outdoor restaurant near Santa Maria Maggiore. It is here where the Pope was supposed to give a blessing that night, one of the few times of year he leaves the Vatican City.

After dinner, we went to Santa Maria Maggiore church and watched the procession begin: nuns arrived first, then monks, priests, bishops, cardinals, and finally.. THE POPE! Yes, we were about 30 feet away from him! Even though I'm only "water-down Catholic" (Episcopalian), I felt very privileged and honored when the Pope blessed the crowd with his scepter. It truly was a great way to end a great study abroad experience..

..and the beverages and reverie on the hotel rooftop later that evening was fun too ;)