My Roman Holiday

Early Friday morning I headed to the train station with 4 of my 5 roommates to catch our train to Rome. Kinda running late we hustled across town to the train station and made it with 30 seconds to spare. Erinn and I got seats next to each other. She likes the aisle seats and I like the window seats so it works out very well. We played a few card games at the beginning of our ride before we talked for the rest of the ride.
We arrived in Rome around 10:30 and immediately went to the hotel to drop off our stuff. We couldn't check into our rooms until later in the afternoon and our school set up a tour of Vatican City. We walked from the hotel to the metro station to take the metro to the Vatican. The metro in Rome looks extremely similar to the one in Barcelona. It made me miss Barcelona just a little bit more than I usually do.
The tour with my school wasn't starting for another two hours, so I went to see St Peter's Square. There weren't that many people in the square so it was a great time to see it. The weather report for Rome said it was going to rain all weekend but it didn't rain once. After seeing the square, I went to lunch with Becca, Olivia, and Michayla. We were all starving so we didn't have the patience to look for a more local place so we stopped and got pizza at a place a few blocks from the square. After our pizza, we met up with the rest of class to go on the tour of the Vatican and its museums.
Our tour guide, though knowledgeable, was kind of a bore. Mostly because his voice is completely monotone and talked more than needed about almost everything. Thankfully the Vatican and the museums made it very easy to overcome that. The pieces of artwork along the way to the Sistine Chapel were fantastic but nothing could compare to the Sistine Chapel itself. It was absolutely breathtaking. Our guide only gave us 20 minutes to be inside and that was not enough time. I sat down on the benches that line the room. I could have sat there for hours. But once my 20 minutes were up, I had to get up and leave. Michelangelo was truly a genius. 

My wonderful roommate Erinn and I

While waiting for the rest of my group, I waited in St. Peter's Square and watched the sky change colors as the sunset. It was breathtaking looking at St. Peter's Basilica with the sky changing from blue to purple behind it. Around the obelisk are a ring of cement posts. My friend challenged me to get up on one and the first one I failed. I jumped up and slipped right off. Before I tried again, I moved to one that was shorter than the first one and easily got up on that one. Erinn and I joked around for a little bit before heading back to the hotel to rest before going to dinner.
Erinn, Olivia, Michayla, and I went to the restaurant next door to our hotel. The food was great but we had an interesting time there. One of our waiters was really interested in Olivia and kept coming back often to check we were okay. Then, while eating dinner, I overhead another couple ask for the check by saying "La cuenta" which is Spanish for the check. I was surprised when the waiter replied in Italian and gave them their check. So, being a dumby, I asked for "La cuenta" and I don't think I have ever made someone laugh so hard. I tucked my head, paid the bill, and as we were walking out the door our waiter yelled after us "Muchos gracias". We laughed the whole way back to the hotel.
The next day we had a jam packed schedule and sadly Erinn and I felt quite terrible. With a little pep talk, we put on our walking shoes and headed out the door to go the Colosseum! We met up with our whole group and were split into two smaller groups for the tour of the Colosseum and the Roman Forums. Erinn and I made sure we got with Angela. She is an absolutely fantastic tour guide and teacher! Angela actually traveled with us to Rome. She is one of our lecturers for our Italian Life and Culture class.
She is extremely knowledgeable
about the building of the Colosseum and the games that went on there. The story that I remember the most is that they were running out of ways to surprise the crowd so they brought in a giraffe and it was a hit! As I looked around the Colosseum, all I could imagine was a giraffe wandering through the crowds.
We headed from the Colosseum to the Roman Forums. Angela was telling us that there are still lots of ruins underneath the street next to the Roman Forums. The road will not be excavated but they are putting another metro line under that road. They come across ruins as they dig the tunnel for the metro line. Once they discover new ruins, they take them out of the tunnel and transport to another site. Our official tour was over at the Roman Forums but Angela offered to take us on another "unofficial" tour of Rome.
Our "unofficial" tour would take us to the Piazza Navona, Pantheon, Santa Maria del Popolo, Trevi Fountain, and the Spanish Steps. Erinn and I were sadly feeling worse but we wanted to see all of those places, so we sucked it up and went. Also Angela is a fantastic guide and is quite funny. Before our "unofficial" tour began, Angela gave us an hour and a half for lunch. Michayla, Olivia, Becca, Anna, Katie, Erinn, and I went for lunch at a place around the corner from the Pantheon. I got pasta with salmon and hot water and it was exactly what I needed.
I got a recommendation for a gelato place a few minute walk from the Pantheon and after lunch I tried to take the group with me. I knew where I was going and one of the streets I turned us on was a little alley. Olivia didn't think I knew where I was going so they all turned around and went back to a really touristy gelato place. I kept going and right at the end of the little alley was just the place I was looking for, Giolitti. This place is by far the best gelato I've had ever! I got mint and coffee with their hand churned whipped cream on top.
I walked back to the Pantheon to meet up with Angela for our tour. She waited for no one and left right on the dot of the time she told us to be there by. Our first stop was not the Pantheon twenty feet from our meeting spot but Piazza Navona. It is now lined with shops and restaurants but it once was a chariot race course.
From the Piazza we headed to the Pantheon. The first two things I noticed was that the Pantheon is stunning and there is a hole in the ceiling. When it rains too much, they have to close the Pantheon to the public and let it drain out.
Santa Maria del Popolo was our next stop. The ceiling was breathtaking but they were not the first thing I noticed. I first noticed the poor little bird who was stuck inside flying around trying to get out. 

Erinn and I always seem to be laughing :)

The Trevi Fountain was next and by far my favorite because I've always wanted to live out my Lizzie McGuire moment. For those who don't know, Lizzie McGuire was a 90's tv and a movie was made and in that movie she went to Rome with her school. She went to the Trevi Fountain, threw in her three coins and immediately made eye contact with a handsome Italian man named Paolo and they dated for a while. Well, I threw in my three coins and didn't see one handsome Italian man. What a disappointment. Just kidding! It was still great and I got to see it with some great friends.

Our group at the Colosseum that night

Our last stop on our fantastic tour with Angela were the Spanish Steps. They were jam packed with people sitting and eating lunch on the steps. Erinn and I thanked Angela for the tour and headed back to the hotel to relax and take a nap. We were so exhausted but wanted to go out for the evening to a museum and see the Colosseum and the Trevi Fountain at night. We talked for awhile and each took a nap before going down to the lobby to meet one of the AIFS staff members who walked us to the Colosseum, the museum, and the Trevi Fountain. After seeing the Trevi Fountain, we headed back to the hotel, grabbed dinner around the corner, and went to bed.

If you squint, right above the tiny red
strip is a Pope Francis

The next morning, we slept in as late as we could before needing to go down to get breakfast from the buffet and check out of our room. Once we checked out of our room, we got on the metro to go to St. Peter's Square for the Pope's weekly address. Though I understood next to non of what he said, it was extremely moving and exciting. Everyone in the crowd was in awe and so was I. Still feeling extremely sick, Erinn and I headed back to the hotel to nap in the hotel lobby. Though it may not have been the most appropriate place to take a nap but it was worth it. We left the hotel around 4:15 and got on our train a little while after. I'm sitting at home in my pjs really comfy and sadly still sick but really happy about my wonderful weekend in Rome.