Travel Alphabet History (Y) Yelling
In 2001 I went with my high school travel club to Italy and Barcelona over Easter break. The Italy part of it went from Rome to Florence and Pisa, catching a boat in Genoa to Barcelona. Our school’s travel club only had 3 students that year. We went with EF tours and I figured they would group another school with ours like they did the prior year when we went to England.
We started the first day there at Vatican City on our own. The tour guide had to leave to get the other group that would meet us later. I had no idea what anything was. It was raining a lot and cold. I had brought my umbrella but the other girl in my group didn’t have one so I shared. Sharing an umbrella isn’t exactly ideal so she broke down and bought one from a street vendor. It was so cold that we went to a store to buy sweaters. I noticed this long line that went all the way around this huge wall. I had no idea what it was at the time but it was the line to get into the Vatican Museum. Everyone was waiting in line in the rain along the Vatican City wall. We had a quick lunch and then ended up waiting in it. As long as it was, it did move rather quickly and we did make it into the museum.
We were later introduced to the other group. They were a class from a school in Louisiana. One of the chaperones in the group had her son along with her and she kept yelling his name constantly. She was so overprotective that she treated him like a small child even though he was at least 16. We would constantly hear her yelling, “Howard, watch out when you cross the street.” “Howard, keep up with the group.” “Howard, don’t get lost.” “Howard, stay close to me.” I honestly felt bad for that kid. I couldn’t imagine he had any space or privacy at home.
Later on in our hotel my classmate and I saw Howard in the hallway. I figured he needed a break from his controlling mother and could use an opportunity to socialize and maybe blow off some steam. I called him into our room to attempt a friendly conversation. Little did I know, he was a juvenile delinquent. The first thing he did was pull out a BB gun that he had bought somewhere at some point during the trip. He aimed it at the lamp in our hotel room and shot it breaking the bulb and putting a hole in the lamp shade. “Why did you do that?” I asked confused an alarmed.
He laughed it off and said that he had shot all the lamps out in his room and set the lamp shade back on top turned around so it wasn’t noticeable. Then he walked away. We were all very confused by what happened. His mom started yelling at him again in the hallway and we decided to let our teacher know what happened. It became this huge parent teacher conference with Howard, his mother and us.
His mom tried to blame us for inviting him into our room saying he should never have been in there. I said that we were just interested in having a conversation with him because we thought he was a nice guy. The mom then insisted, “Howard IS a nice boy.” The argument went back and forth because Howard denied shooting our lamp and he and his mom were trying to make it out like we were crazy and delusional. I honestly couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Howard was so good at lying that I started to doubt myself and wonder if I actually did imagine the whole thing. Our teacher got frustrated and tried to break it down for dummies. She said, “Who broke the lamp?” My classmate said, “Howard.” Then our teacher asked, “Who is this?” and pointed at Howard. My classmate said, “It’s Howard! His mom’s been yelling his name this whole time!” I couldn’t help but laugh at the absurdity of it all. Eventually Howard cracked and admitted what he did. I was happy when they all finally left our room.
Seriously, we were in Italy of all places and they didn’t know how to act even relatively normal or appreciate it. What needless senseless drama. They could have ruined the trip for everyone with their weird mind games and property damage. Our tour guide had to question everyone later because at the previous hotel someone took a knife to one of the mattresses. I’m guessing that ‘someone’ was our friend Howard. I have no idea why people act like that.
We started the first day there at Vatican City on our own. The tour guide had to leave to get the other group that would meet us later. I had no idea what anything was. It was raining a lot and cold. I had brought my umbrella but the other girl in my group didn’t have one so I shared. Sharing an umbrella isn’t exactly ideal so she broke down and bought one from a street vendor. It was so cold that we went to a store to buy sweaters. I noticed this long line that went all the way around this huge wall. I had no idea what it was at the time but it was the line to get into the Vatican Museum. Everyone was waiting in line in the rain along the Vatican City wall. We had a quick lunch and then ended up waiting in it. As long as it was, it did move rather quickly and we did make it into the museum.
We were later introduced to the other group. They were a class from a school in Louisiana. One of the chaperones in the group had her son along with her and she kept yelling his name constantly. She was so overprotective that she treated him like a small child even though he was at least 16. We would constantly hear her yelling, “Howard, watch out when you cross the street.” “Howard, keep up with the group.” “Howard, don’t get lost.” “Howard, stay close to me.” I honestly felt bad for that kid. I couldn’t imagine he had any space or privacy at home.
Later on in our hotel my classmate and I saw Howard in the hallway. I figured he needed a break from his controlling mother and could use an opportunity to socialize and maybe blow off some steam. I called him into our room to attempt a friendly conversation. Little did I know, he was a juvenile delinquent. The first thing he did was pull out a BB gun that he had bought somewhere at some point during the trip. He aimed it at the lamp in our hotel room and shot it breaking the bulb and putting a hole in the lamp shade. “Why did you do that?” I asked confused an alarmed.
He laughed it off and said that he had shot all the lamps out in his room and set the lamp shade back on top turned around so it wasn’t noticeable. Then he walked away. We were all very confused by what happened. His mom started yelling at him again in the hallway and we decided to let our teacher know what happened. It became this huge parent teacher conference with Howard, his mother and us.
His mom tried to blame us for inviting him into our room saying he should never have been in there. I said that we were just interested in having a conversation with him because we thought he was a nice guy. The mom then insisted, “Howard IS a nice boy.” The argument went back and forth because Howard denied shooting our lamp and he and his mom were trying to make it out like we were crazy and delusional. I honestly couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Howard was so good at lying that I started to doubt myself and wonder if I actually did imagine the whole thing. Our teacher got frustrated and tried to break it down for dummies. She said, “Who broke the lamp?” My classmate said, “Howard.” Then our teacher asked, “Who is this?” and pointed at Howard. My classmate said, “It’s Howard! His mom’s been yelling his name this whole time!” I couldn’t help but laugh at the absurdity of it all. Eventually Howard cracked and admitted what he did. I was happy when they all finally left our room.
Seriously, we were in Italy of all places and they didn’t know how to act even relatively normal or appreciate it. What needless senseless drama. They could have ruined the trip for everyone with their weird mind games and property damage. Our tour guide had to question everyone later because at the previous hotel someone took a knife to one of the mattresses. I’m guessing that ‘someone’ was our friend Howard. I have no idea why people act like that.