The Fainting and Puking Auto-response

For those of you that know me, know that I handle any sort of stress, anxiety, change via a dramatic fit of fainting and puking. For example, I hated my first grade teacher so I puked everyday of first grade. I couldn't get through a third grade speed multiplication table test without losing my lunch. I used to puke before dance competitions to get the jitters out. I fainted at Six Flags one time because I was so nervous to go on a rollercoaster. Well, old habits die hard. True to form, I woke up feeling sick as a dog and nervous as hell. We were standing in line at the cafe waiting to order breakfast when things quickly went down hill. Everything went black and then I collapsed (classic), but had to quickly stand up because I realized I was going to yak all over the beautiful cobblestone street of Rome. A fellow nervous wreck ran with me across the street to a garbage can and then took my to a bathroom and got me a water. God bless the soul of Michelle. After my episode of typical Katie nervous behavior, I felt exponentially better. A few gals and I walked around and went to the Piazza Navona and the Pantheon. Both were incredible. The Piazza is a big square with restaurants and shops lining it and huge, beautiful, historical fountains in the center. There are street perfomers and musicians and artists. That's another thing. No matter where you are, you can always hear music in Rome. The same kind of music they play in Italian restaurants. It's literally like the city has a soundtrack. The Pantheon was actually ridiculous. HUGE and full of so much history. The whole thing inside is marble and it's breathtaking. I'm very excited to learn more about it and really appreciate it for what it truly is. From there we decided to get gelato. Oh my, was it good. I'm still getting the hang of ordering, because I actually know no Italian whatsoever. But it's fine. I had champagne gelato topped with a scoop of raspberry gelato. FABULOUS. Huge fan of the gelato. This afternoon, we went on a tour of the area. Again, those of you who know me, know I get lost on bike rides. And all of Rome pretty much looks the same. Big, old, colorful, ornate. So the whole figuring everything out thing will take some time and attention (especially since after a year, I still cannot find my way around ND's campus). Tonight we are going out to dinner and vino.


Also, Ryan asked for a shout out so here it is. Hi Ryan.