I had a great time catching up with Carly and getting to spend more time with Katie and Jacqueline, and we did so many fun things! Gelato, awe-inspiring architecture, the amazing Italian food, and getting to see Mumford & Sons in concert were definitely the highlights of my trip!
Although the forecast threatened rain, Mother Nature was on our side for the weekend and not a drop fell while I was there. It was quite a bit colder than I expected, and I was definitely not prepared with a proper coat, but a little chill in the air didn't hinder our adventures!
After my plane landed, I followed the signs leading me to the train, purchased my ticket, and headed into Rome! I had two sets of directions - one from my hostel and one from Carly - and Carly's were much clearer for what train to take away from the airport. Unfortunately, her directions only led me to the tram stop closest to her housing, so once I got off, I was left to wander my way to my hostel. After quite a while of walking around and not finding the right road, I finally bought a map and tried to follow the hostel's directions, which were actually from a different stop. My amazing sense of direction had me walk completely the wrong way, across the river, down and around and about. Although getting to walk around Rome and see it's beauty was exciting, after almost two hours, I just wanted to find my hostel! I finally buckled down with my map, figured out where I was and where I was supposed to go, and started my trek. I was nowhere near where I was supposed to be! Oops. I finally found the right address, found Orsa Maggiore Hostel for women only, and checked in.
I was much later getting in than I expected because of my lost wandering, and Carly was just about to leave for her cooking class when I finally got in touch. Thankfully, Katie and Jacqueline were kind enough to come collect me, and we made our way through their neighborhood to a grocery store for them to stock up and get some food to make dinner.
Walking through their neighborhood was great! Their housing is on a quiet street, but just a quick walk to a charming area with tons of shops, cafes, bars, and beautiful piazzas, statues, fountains, and buildings! It was dusk when we were walking around, and everything looked beautiful all lit up!
When we got back to their place, which is right around the corner from my hostel, we hung out, caught up, and Jacqueline made us dinner. Katie had made a spur-of-the-moment chocolate pie purchase at the grocery store, and we dug into that while Jacqueline was cooking. As their roommates filtered in and out, several asked if our pie was to celebrate Pi Day (the 14th of March - 3.14). We hadn't even thought of that! It was fun to "celebrate" and not even know it, and the pie was delicious!
When Carly came home, she told us about how repetitive and boring making homemade gnocchi is, but how delicious and fun it is to bake Nutella cookies! We hung out for a while, and eventually I left for a quick nap at my hostel before meeting back up and heading out for the night. When we reunited, we made our way through Rome's winding cobblestone streets and ended up at the Pantheon! The Pantheon is MASSIVE, and although I am sure it is not as beautiful as when it was covered in marble, is still an incredible sight - especially when lit up at night!
After a few pictures, we continued on our way to get my first genuine, Italian gelato! Yup. It was AWESOME.
Jacqueline headed home to get some sleep before a bright and early field trip the next morning, and Carly, Katie, and I went out and about.
The neighborhood the girls live in is great! The whole area is crawling with people our age, and it's almost like a college town! We had so much fun just walking around with our 3 euro 40s, sitting on the steps, and being harassed by local Italian boys about our favorite football team.
After a relaxed night, we headed home - my hostel had a 3am curfew, anyway (which I did not know before booking >:( ) The next morning I woke up bright and early - waking up at 7:15 every morning for work will do that to you on vacation, and hung out at the hostel since the girls weren't up until around 11. Carly and Katie met me and we headed out for some sightseeing, while Jacqueline met up with us after her field trip! The list included the cat sanctuary in the center of Rome (so cool!), the Pantheon in the daylight,Vatican City & St. Peter's Square where I sent some postcards (were you lucky enough to get one??), the Via del Corso which is the crazy busy shopping street in Rome, the Barcaccia Fountain, the Spanish Steps, the Trevi Fountain, and so much more! We were exhausted after so much excitement and walking, and by the time we got to Tony's for dinner, we were so ready to sit and relax!
Tony's is a very yummy, very Italian restaurant in the girls' neighborhood. We all started with bread, oil and balsamic, water, wine, and bruschetta. Jacqueline and I enjoyed Tony's pesto, Katie got lasagna, and the real star of the meal was Carly's penne in vodka sauce! So delicious! By the time we finished, I was falling asleep at the table, but when the waiter brought two tiramisu out for us to share (on the house), I woke up long enough to enjoy the dessert! The last time the girls had been to Tony's, they had been given several treats on the house as well, and it was extra fun, as we realized that nobody else in the section we were sitting in was getting the special treatment that we were! It pays to travel in a group of young girls ;)
Next, of course, I headed to the hostel for a quick nap before heading out for the night, and man, did I need it! After meeting up with the girls, our first stop of the night was the chocolate bar, and yes, it is as amazing as it sounds! The line was out the door (and, well, it's kind of hard not to be with how teeny tiny the bars are in Italy), but the wait was not too long and totally worth it! The bar serves up shots of Baileys mixed with chocolate sauce and topped with whipped cream in a completely edible, completely delicious chocolate shot glass! It is so fun! You just drop the whole thing in your mouth - it's quite a mouthful, but quite delicious - and enjoy!!
We headed to a few other places, and after an extremely long bathroom break for Katie, she returned to us apologizing that the toilets were overflowing, but brought back a friend. Uhm...yes...it really happened like that and was that hilarious (sorry, Katie!). Apparently this isn't the first time Katie has met friends in the bathroom! The guy was Irish but living in London, and he and his friends invited us to join them at another bar. Who can say no to that accent?? We walked around with them and actually ended up taking them to one of the girls' favorite bars, 8 Millimeter. The place was quirky, artsy, and full of cool people and awesome bartenders. One bartender asked me to marry him later by the new Pope. Of course I said "yes!"
We lost half the group of Irish/Englishmen, but two hung around with us, and we went to a bar with a ridiculous selection of beer, then to get crepes. I had my first crepe - Nutella and banana - and I am sold. What a delicious concoction! I have eaten more Nutella in Europe than I have during the first 20 years of my life!
We finally called it a night - all the bars seem to close around 2am in Rome, such a bummer (and very different from Prague and many other European cities). Unfortunately, the night's excitement for me hadn't truly even hit.
Me: What the hell are you doing?!
Girl: Going to the bathroom.
Me: On my bed?!
Girl: Yeah, it's fine.
Me: No! What the hell? Go to the bathroom!
Girl: Sorry, sorry, it's not that bad (starts moving towards another bed to defile).
Me: NO! GO TO THE BATHROOM!!!
Girl: (finally walks away to go to the restroom)
Me: (totally pissed off & rips top 3 blankets off bed, goes back to sleep)
The girl was obviously very very drunk, and it was entertaining the next morning to hear her friends tell her that no, she didn't do anything embarrassing last night, then get to tell her that she peed on my bed (I know, I am mean). But, I was still really mad at the time, and seeing the girl embarrassed after she asked me to explain exactly what happened (because she didn't remember - no duh, Sherlock, you were hammered) felt like retribution for having to see this girl's bum squatting over my bed. She apologized, and I am embarrassed (now) to say I wasn't particularly gracious. Live and learn?
What really made me angry (and still does) is the hostel's response to the incident. Obviously, they did not see fit to refund me for the night or charge the girl extra, which I do understand, but I don't think that asking for new sheets and blankets was too much! Although it might have been a language barrier thing, the woman working refused my request twice before finally agreeing to have my bed made up with new linens. Who knows if that actually happened. But, like I said before, I think I caught the girl before she actually started going to the bathroom.
What a fun night, right? On top of this excitement, of course I still woke up way too early, so right around four hours of sleep for the second night in a row was just awesome =)
The next morning Carly and I did a bit more sight seeing, which included Rome's massive Parliament building, the Colosseum, Roman Forum, and the Arch of Titus (I think). We had a fun time, and eventually parted ways to get ready for the Mumford & Sons concert!!!!!
Mumford & Sons is an awesome folk rock band from the UK (although a couple members are from the U.S.). Their music is wonderful, and many songs have religious underpinnings.
The group has been touring Europe, and even before I left the States for Prague, I learned that they were having a show in Prague and wanted to go! Unfortunately, instead of buying tickets right then and there, I dilly dallied and waited, and the show in Prague was sold out by the time I got around to checking back. I was so upset at the time, but it ended up being a blessing!
Katie and Jacqueline both had tickets for the show, and Carly and I had our fingers crossed and were hoping to scalp two when we arrived. After a scary taxi ride, we were immediately approached by an older Italian man at the venue. We were confused as to whether he wanted tickets or was selling them, and finally realized he wanted to sell them to us - well, that was easy. At first the price was €60, but once the guy realized we wanted two tickets, it was magically raised to €140 for the pair -____- what an ass. We looked over the tickets thoroughly, comparing them to Jacqueline and Katie's, and they looked completely real. There was a shiny, metallic part, a barcode - things that we figured would be pretty difficult to copy. We were satisfied, paid the guy, and got in line. While waiting, I was looking over my ticket, and cold shivers came over me when I realized that my ticket said "Mumford Song." Uhm...shouldn't it say "Mumford Sons?" Yup, it should. We had looked over the tickets so well and completely missed the most obvious mistake! Carly and I were pissed, and decided to find the fraudulent Italian man.
Hell hath no fury like two 20-year-olds jipped out of €140!!
We were walking around, asking each other if we remembered what he looked like or what he was wearing. Neither of us did, but we finally saw the guy, and once he saw us, he surprisingly walked over to us. Using our future-mom voices, we firmly told the guy the tickets were fake, pointed out the mistake, and demanded our money back. He told us that it wouldn't matter that the tickets were fake, that it wouldn't be a problem - yeah, right! After some arguing, the guy relented, and gave us our money back with the promise that we wouldn't tell anyone else that his tickets were fake. Nobody was more surprised than us that we got our money back!
We went back in line, and tried to figure out what to do. The fraudulent Italian had a friend who tried to sell us tickets as we were returning the fake ones, but his looked fake, too, so we passed. While we were waiting in line, though, the guy brought over yet another scalper, who offered us his tickets for €100 each. There was no way we were paying that much, and we told him so. After a while, he returned, and told us he would sell them for €80 each. We asked to look over the tickets, and this time we really were thorough. Everything was good - different barcodes on each ticket, different serial numbers, the correct price, etc. He explained that he bought them in Florence, where the group had had their previous show. We decided that these ones actually were real, and that the extra €10 per ticket was worth it! We finally had real tickets!
It turns out that the fraudulent Italian was right - his fake (& cheaper) tickets would have been just fine. Although the tickets were super intense with barcodes and shiny things, and more, the guy checking our tickets barely even glanced at them before admitting us, and I am sure that many many people got in with fake tickets! Oh well, we didn't care!
The concert was incredible and I am so happy and thankful that I got to go!
After waiting a ridiculous amount of time trying to catch a taxi (we're talking hours here), crashing a disco birthday party full of 40-somethings dressed and dancing like teenagers - which I would like to erase from my mind - and eating some birthday cake, we finally made it home!
We walked around for a bit, I got some late-night pizza, and we all crashed for the night.
The next morning, Carly and I went around for my last sights of Rome, my last Italian gelato (for now), and an attempt to buy some genuine Italian leather (seriously, who doesn't take credit cards for a $25 purchase). The morning was dreary and punctuated by the incredibly heartbreaking loss of the Seton Hill women's lacrosse coach and her unborn baby, along with the injured players and deceased bus driver. Having traveled so much on buses with our own team, the tragedy hit home. For Carly, whose mother works at the school and who has many friends as students there, the tragedy was particularly difficult.
We said goodbye, Carly loaded me onto the tram, and I said "ciao" to my long weekend in Rome.
After such a long trip, I returned home exhausted. My trip was great, but it is always a good feeling to be back home, in your own flat, with your own bed, able to cook your own food, and not having to worry about your roommates peeing on you in the middle of the night =)
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