When in Rome!

Colosseum! I wanted this to be the cover photo haha.

Buongiorno!!

Disclaimer: This might be my longest entry yet. So prepare. Also, all pictures courtesy of my friends Dani, and Michelle

I have returned! And I just want to make a quick comment that it’s snowing!!!!!!! And it’s accumulating!! Oh how I’ve missed this stuff, we barely got any in the past few months. Italy in the snow is amazing. And I think I’m trying to go sledding, and I’m in the perfect spot since Perugia is one big hill (don’t worry, I’ll take the mini metro back up- it’s kind of like a ski lift)!

Fountain covered in snow! Apparently snow only happens once or twice a year here. 

So this past weekend I went to Rome with a group of my friends. Let’s just say I’ve pretty much overused the phrase “When in Rome” to the point where I probably wouldn’t be allowed to ever use it again. But I was very excited to go- we arrived in the city on Friday and stayed until Sunday. 

The bus ride there was very interesting. We got there early so we had our selection of seats to choose from.  So I had two seats in the back to myself for a while. That is, until the bus stopped at this nondescript place and picked up a small handful of people. Despite there being plenty of seats open throughout the bus, these people made their way to the back and took up the seats next to the ones occupied by my friends and I. I sat next to an 8 or 9-year-old girl. She seemed really sweet and shyly smiled at me from time to time. It was at this point that I figured I would say something to her. So completely forgetting that she most likely didn’t speak any English I complimented her on her headband (in English). She looked at me weirdly so I pointed at her head and gave her a thumbs up. For some reason, this wasn’t the best idea. She then gave me a look of horror and proceeded to speak in hushed Italian to her mom, who gave me the same look.  I wanted to explain to them what I meant, but any attempt was fatal at that point. The mother just kept her arm tightly wrapped around her daughter for the rest of the trip-both giving me threatening looks every once in a while.

But everything was ok after that! We checked in right away when we got there. We stayed at the Hotel Hollywood (very Italian…). There were 8 of us, and we got to stay in adjacent rooms, which was quite convenient. The girls in the room over had a very interesting room- nicknamed the ‘Pink Floyd’ room for reasons I couldn’t quite understand. But the bathroom light was reflected in blue, it was strangely odd and awesome at the same time. Our room wasn’t as cool but the guys got a bunk bed (I was jealous).

The group of us the Spanish Steps!
 (Alex, Erin, Michelle, Dani, Cameron, Julia, me, Ashley)

I also don’t think I have ever done so much walking in three days.  We pretty much hit up all the main tourist spots. We tried to conquer the Colosseum on Friday, but it turns out that it was closed due to the transportation strike, which we were all curious about, because the Colosseum has nothing to do with transportation. But the metro was still up and running, so we never really ran into any problems (well except for the Colosseum of course). Since that was closed we decided to dedicate Friday to try to hit up all the other main spots. This included the Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, and the Pantheon. We also visited the Victor Emmanuel Monument, which contained the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and a great view of the city (also which we frequently used as a meeting place, so we cleverly nicknamed it “The Big White Building”).  Pizza and lots of gelato were scattered throughout the day.  It was great to see all of these places, especially the Trevi fountain because on my previous trip to Rome I tossed a coin in the fountain (which will assure my return to Rome)- so it came true. I tossed another coin in, so I await my next trip back to the Eternal City.

Trevi Fountain!

The next day was dedicated to the Colosseum and the Roman Forum. I woke up early and went with the girls. The line was long, but it wasn’t too bad. I think one of the main points I actually wanted to return to Italy (after my week long trip my senior year of high school) was because I didn’t get to spend as much time as I had wanted to in the Colosseum. So returning here was a big deal for me. I also feel like I have a much bigger appreciation for Roman history, and how the Colosseum played a part in that. 

I made it back to the Colosseum!!

We also got to see the Roman Forum, which I don’t even think we visited when I came to Rome for the first time. I was absolutely fascinated by this place (did you know Caesar was burned there??). Unfortunately we got there only an hour before it was closing so we barely got to see any of it. Also, I got separated from my trusty Rick Steve’s guide book (which I got for Christmas from my parents), when our group split up for the day. So I didn’t even know what I was looking at in the Forum (there were no signs).  So I plan to visit Rome once again, and spend a whole day in the Forum-with my guide book (this book is literally the best, it has helped me out so much already! Despite being made fun of by my friends, I would recommend getting one).

Don't have any photos (yet) of me at the Roman Forum,
but here is me with Rick Steves in front of the Pantheon!

That night we went to dinner at a really nice restaurant. I got a mushroom and truffle pizza, it was just, wow. But after that, some of my friends were still hungry and had wanted to go to another restaurant from the start. So what did we do? We had a second dinner at this restaurant (hey, when in Rome, right??). There were absolutely no regrets from this decision. This was probably one of the best restaurants I have been to since coming to Italy. It was not only due to the food, but the atmosphere as well. It had torches on the outer walls, and the inside was this warm atmosphere with garlic hanging from the ceiling (ok I can’t really describe it well, but when my friend posts the pictures, I’ll put one up here). The menus were large scrolls similar to pirate maps (except for the map part), and we got to keep them! I split a margherita pizza with a few people, and my friend got a 19 euro truffle pizza. This was even better than mine, which I thought was pretty impossible. We savored every last bite. This turned out to be my favorite part of Rome (Oh but don’t worry, it is all justified by the ridiculous amount of walking we did, I couldn’t feel my feet at the end of each day).

Sunday was intended for the Vatican. Firstly, did you know that on the last Sunday of every month, the museum at the Vatican was free? This would have been great if we hadn’t accidentally slept in and gotten there late. We arrived (first inadvertently making a trip to the ‘Piazza del Popolo’ ) at around 11:30. It was PACKED! Not only for the free part, but they were having some sort of peace rally. So it was extremely crowded. The museum closed at 12, so we missed out on the Sistine Chapel. I would have been more disappointed if I hadn’t already seen it. It was actually pretty cool just to be in St. Peter’s square with all those people. It was almost as if a new pope was being selected or something (Ok, it probably would have been a little more crowded if that was the case, but it was still pretty cool). 

After that, we slowly started to make our way back. We missed the 2 pm bus for Perugia, but we caught the train, which was fine- even though we ended up back in Tarantula again (I’m beginning to think that the saying should have been “all roads lead to Tarantula (Terontola)” instead of Rome…). But it was a great trip overall, we were pretty exhausted at the end of it. 

No green fairies, unforetunately...

So now it’s Wednesday afternoon and things have been pretty normal. Well as normal as they can get when you’re living in a foreign country. On Monday we had another workshop for my foods class (the professor, for which, by the way is still absolutely fascinated by the fact I’m in meteorology), it was really fun because we got to learn about ‘apertivo’, which is a small meal before dinner. It’s great because they usually have this at bars and cafes. All you have to do is pay for your drink, and you can eat as much finger food (Italian finger food) as you want- great for cheap college students!  We also got a taste of homemade ABSINTHE. It was horrible (didn't get any visions of fairies), but still very cool. I also got involved in this organization that helps with Fair Trade. I go to my first meeting on Monday, I’ll let you know how it goes!

Alright, well I have wasted enough of your time. Shout out to both of my grandmothers who I hear have been reading my blog. I love you, and I hope you can come visit!!

We have another Tandem event tonight- hopefully the snow wont cancel it. I need to get another fix of practicing my Italian with guys. 

Addio mia bella amici

Emilia

 (yea i’m still going to refer to myself as that- just go with it)