Rome-sick.

I am deathly Rome-sick. 

And this. 

My Facebook newsfeed is a barrage of pictures from friends living in and/or visiting Europe.

I can handle it no more. 

I am memory lane-ing it today:

(Some pictures may or may not be stolen. I plead the 5th.)

I miss pre-semester travels with Bodie & the Loch Ness Monster. 

(I'm an expert photo editor, by the way.)

I miss gangster signs at the Pantheon. 

This is before Teresa & I were even friends, and I made everyone pose like this. 

She is clearly skeptical. 

It's surprising our friendship even got off the ground. 

I miss Christmas markets & carousels in Piazza Navona. 

I had just been subjected to something really, really terrible 

and my lovely roommates stopped their finals studying to cheer me up. 

Obviously, they had no fun whatsoever. 

I miss just hanging out at St. Peter's. 

I still can't believe that that's a thing we did:

hung out at St. Peter's. 

Whaaaaat?

I miss church-ing & friend-ing in Trastevere. 

I miss trips to Vesuvius. 

I miss fighting the crowds at the Parthenon. 

I miss kebabs & beer in Greece. 

Good Lord, do I miss kebabs. 

I miss train fiascos & passing a bottle of whiskey down the aisle. 

I miss 10 for 10-day!

And falling asleep under pool tables. 

I miss our 10-day motto. 

"May we all find some meaning out of our backpacks" became such a 

wonderful, tear-jerking, laughter-inducing toast. 

I miss accidental Greenpeace rallies & pig hooves. 

I miss Halloween bar & yard glasses. 

 I miss that church/flamenco bar.

I miss the nicest man in Budapest. 

I absolutely DO NOT miss this train fiasco. 

 

I miss the running joke about bathrooms in Prague. 

 I miss drunken nights with my oldest friend.

("We've known each other since we were 3!")

And I miss that oldest friend teaching me how to steal my Hofbrauhaus stein.

(It's under her coat, y'all. She is goooood.)

I miss our fabulous room in Assisi. 

And accidentally setting the thermostat too high & falling into a heat-induced coma,

 thereby missing the sneaky trip to the castle. 

I miss seriously last-minute trips.

(John Paul was on his way out the door, asked if I wanted to go, I packed in 15 minutes. 

Luckily, I had long since given up on looking attractive while traveling.)

I miss making Kenneth do touristy things with me. 

Mostly, I miss everything & everybody. 

Let's all go back together, k?

Bonus:

The Great State of Texas (& HEB) does it again.

That's right, bacon jam. 

It might sound unappetizing, but let me tell you...

it's glorious. 

Regular hamburger? Meh. 

Regular hamburger + bacon jam? WONDERFUL.

 The bottle gives suggestions on how and with what to serve it, 

but I think just "with a spoon" is sufficient.