--'When in Rome' --
We should have known from the get go that this was going to be an interesting trip when first, I couldn't find my flight confirmation and ended up booking another flight (I ended up with two of the same flight) 20 min. before we left, then, we almost missed our flight because Ash was getting her hair done and we waited for her and had to jet to the airport in a taxi, and then when we finally arrived in Rome, we get stopped immediately by security (only the three of us out of the hundreds of people that walked by) as they proceeded to take down our passport information claiming it was "standard procedure"... weird that they didn't stop anyone else... hmm!?
Dionne was meeting us in Rome because her grandma is visiting and she stayed in Barca to spend a few days with her. So Noelle, Ash and I were definitely flustered when 80 cab drivers were trying to tell us the train we needed to take was closed and we needed to take a cab for 50 euro. It was kind of a mess, but we were smarter than that and found the train that would take us to the station where Katie was waiting for us. For those that don't know, one of my best friends, Katie, is studying in Rome and we had planned to stay at her place during our stay in Rome.
I just about died when I saw her and we just hugged forever with huge grins on our face, just so happy to see each other after all this time apart. We took a bus to her neighborhood and were more than pleased to see what a prime location her apartment was in (right next to the Pantheon... which is amazing... and in the quaintest part of town). We stopped and had dinner... at about midnight... at a great restaurant that would soon become our favorite in the city. The people in Rome were delightful and so nice to us which was extremely reassuring. Almost everyone spoke English (whew!) and we were slowly but surely picking up Italian one word at a time.
We spilled every story we could possibly think of to one another and Kates and I ended up laying in bed talking hours after the others went to sleep. I needed that... it was like a little piece of home, and we had missed each other so much. Unfortunately, it was Katie's spring break as well and she had planned a trip to the Canary Islands and was leaving the next day, so we literally took advantage of every minute. We woke up early early on Thursday morning while Ash and Noelle slept in and Katie showed me around the city. We stopped for coffee and pastries and continued our endless conversation of trying to update each other on everything. We walked to St. Peters Square and I was amazed by its size and beauty.
After stopping back at home to get the girls, we all walked only 5 minutes to the Trevi Fountain, which is the largest and most magnificent fountain in all of Rome. We threw coins in to ensure a returned trip to Rome someday (seems as though this is a common idea in many cities) and just sat and enjoyed its beauty. The entire time we were in Rome, the weather was idyllic. We got really lucky! Katie walked us to one of her favorite restaurants called Ensalada Ricca before we said our (much dreaded) goodbyes. We were lucky to have two of Katie's friends there to take us around so we weren't entirely lost in the busy city. We had great salads for lunch and then walked to check out the amazing Pantheon right by the apartment. The Pantheon literally means 'Temple of all the Gods' and is the best preserved of all Roman buildings (and perhaps the best preserved building of its age in the world). Famous artists, as well as Italy's first two kings, are buried there.
We were anxious to see the very famous Colosseum, so we walked (eyes glued to our map) but not without stopping for our very first Italian gelato. Needless to say... it was delicious! After walking through tons of Roman ruins and passing some of the most gigantic and stunning monuments, you know... the usual, we finally got to the Colosseum. It was bigger than I had ever pictured it to be. It is the largest amphitheater ever built in the Roman Empire and is one of the greatest works of Roman architecture and engineering. We sat out in front of it for a while, soaking up the afternoon sun as it began to set and then headed home. Just walking around in Rome is fascinating. It is such an amazing city with a historical monument, statue or fountain on every corner.
We ended being in Rome at the same time as our friend Corrinne (from our sorority and is studying in London) and Katie's two friends, Ash, Noelle and I met her and her friend Liz at the Trevi fountain and headed to dinner. It was so much fun exchanging study abroad stories from Rome, London and Barcelona. We all headed out to Campo de Fiore after dinner, which is where all the bars are, and bar hopped all night. Ok, so I know I am boy crazy... believe me, I know this... but the boys in Italy were GORGEOUS!!! I told my mom Its probably a good thing I am not studying there. haha.
We had such a good time, mingling with locals and each other and went to bed at a decent hour to make sure we were ready for a big day of sightseeing on Friday. After waking up a little later than we had planned, Noelle and I left to go see St. Peter's Basilica and the Vatican Museum which holds the famous Sisteen Chapel. Ash had a fever all day and we were all bummed she couldn't go, but she needed to rest up. I went into this not really knowing anything about the Vatican city and, I hate to admit it, not knowing what the Sisteen Chapel was. So I was definitely beyond amazed at everything I saw that day. We walked through about 50 different rooms in the Vatican Museum with the most unbelievable paintings on the walls and ceilings. There were rooms filled entirely with sculptures and the rooms seemed endless and kept getting better and better. As I said before, I didn't know what the Sisteen Chapel was, so everyone incredible room we went into, I would turn to Noelle and whispered under my breath, "Is this the Sisteen Chapel". Well, when we finally reached the infamous room, I definitely knew (finally, right?) that we had indeed reached it. The whole museum surpassed anything I could have imagined, and the Sisteen Chapel just topped it off. It was quite an experience.
We had lunch outside of the Vatican and were enjoying every bit of sunshine while it lasted. We then headed for the St. Peter's Basilica in St. Peters Square. I must say, we have seen A LOT of churches on our trip thus far, and I truly didn't think that this one would be much different. If you've seen one church, you've seen them all... right? Wrong!!! This is like the church of all churches... it's like comparing store bought ice cream to Italian gelato... it just doesn't compare. haha. But seriously, we were in awe the entire time, it was incredible... everyone should see it in their lifetime. We met some nice security guards (we would) that worked in the church and after getting free access to this little museum inside the church (score!) I started talking to a really cute guy who worked there (I would). Its a funny story actually... and we ended up exchanging numbers and planning to meet up later that night. Noelle and I were giddy and giggly after that... and returned home to meet the girls for dinner.
We met up with Corrinne and Liz again and went to the restaurant we went to the first night. In two days, we had already become best friends with all the waiters at the restaurant and even broke a few hearts... haha... also a funny story. We couldn't have picked a better weekend to be in Rome. Not only were we going to be able to see the Pope on Sunday for mass (that's the good Jewish girl in me), but there was also a HUGE rugby game between Italy and Scotland that Saturday, and (no joke) all of Rome was packed with Scottish people in their kilts (awesome!). We hung out with more Scottish people in Rome than we did Italians. So we ended up meeting a group of about 10 Scottish guys who were a riot!!! We finished our dinner and then went and sat with them. They were all friends from college and we all just drank wine, talked and laughed for at least 2 hours. Everyone went home, but Noelle and I went to meet Daniele (the hot Italian guy) and his friend in Campo de Fiore for drinks. It was really fun and he was such a sweet guy. The language barrier was difficult (whats new?)... we were speaking English, Spanish and Italian. haha.
We made plans to hang out again and Noelle and I walked home and met two Scottish boys named Allisteir and Dean. They were hilarious and we literally sat on the road and talked to them forever. It turned into quite an eventful night but we were exhausted. After waking up kind of late on Saturday, the girls and I walked around the shopping district -- which was really nice -- and had a delicious lunch at a little Italian cafe. The food the entire time we were in Italy was TO DIE FOR. We all vowed that we could splurge while we were here (i.e. pizza, pasta, panini's and gelato twice a day) but we were going to crack down when we got back to Barca.
We walked to the Spanish steps, next to the Spanish Embassy, which are huge, pretty and packed with people and street performers. After we window shopped on Via del Corso at Gucci, Prada, etc. and picked out what our rich husbands would buy us one day, we walked to Piazza del Popolo. It is just a huge plaza with a cool monument brought by Agustus after he conquered Egypt. We went back to the Collosseum and ruins again and just strolled around town. On our way home, we stopped to have a really nice dinner right in front of the pantheon. We ordered a bottle of wine and just enjoyed ourselves and each others company.
By complete coincidence, we ran into both groups of Scottish guys and we sat with one group (as they proceeded to buy us bottle after bottle of 140 euro wine)... and then we went home, got ready and met the other group of guys at Campo. It was a fun, and entertaining night... Scottish people are a riot!!! One Scottish man, no one that we were with thank God... got into the huge fountain in the middle of the square and was in nothing but his kilt, splashing around and everyone gathered around and watched. We woke up REALLY early on Sunday to get good seats for the Palm Sunday mass in St. Peter's Square.
It was cold and we were super tired, but it was so cool being in that atmosphere. The choir was singing beautifully and the outfits worn by everyone in the service were so detailed. The square was filled with thousands of people and when the Pope finally came out, preceded by a ton of people holding palms, the three of us started crying. It's not like it was a religious thing for me, but the ambiance and feel of the whole thing was so strong, having such an important person 100 ft. away from you... it just got to me. The Pope led the service and they read most parts in a couple languages. It was something I'm really glad I got to experience.
After mass, we had lunch at a cafe in front of the square and went home to relax. There was a HUGE marathon taking place all throughout the city, so everywhere we went, the streets were closed off and people were running. It was cool that we were there for that too. I had been talking to Daniele and we had planned to meet up during the day for a while. I met him in this really cute plaza and we went for coffee and then walked to the Spanish steps. He was so cute and we laughed like the whole time and just had so much fun together. We went up to this park on the way top of the Spanish steps called 'Pincho' and it overlooked all of Rome. It's the kind of place that I would probably say, "I want to be with a boy up here," cause it was so cute. So we watched the sun set up there and then walked back down and he made sure I was home by 7 to go to dinner with the girls. It was like really sad saying goodbye, and we've been texting since then.
So I was happy when I got home, and even happier to hear that we were going to Chinese food for dinner. It was amazing and super cheap. mmm! Then we had the BEST gelato one last time from the place literally right next to their apartment called 'Giolotti'... my favorite combination was Nocciola (chocolate with hazelnut) and banana... it was de-lic-ious!!!!
-- Fun in Florence --
Monday morning Noelle and i got on the train to Florence (after getting lost in Rome and almost missing it) and finally made it to Florence. Ash waited for Dionne in Rome so that they could see the Vatican and were meeting us in Florence. I officially dislike traveling with a passion. Once I am there I'm fine... but the whole 'plane, then train, then bus, then walking aimlessly, then taxi cause we can't find it' thing can get REALLY annoying after a while. So after going through hell and back, we arrived at our hostel, tired and worn out, only to find that they had overbooked us (I guess it was the computers fault) and had to move us to another hostel down the street. Long story short, it wasn't that nice and we had roommates we didn't know -- we were not happy.
We tried to brush it off and went out to explore Florence and get some lunch. The city itself was cute, but pretty small, and we stopped to get lunch at an Italian cafe in the middle of town and had some amazing pasta and then proceeded to get lost in the city. Sweet! Well we finally made it to Pont Veccio which is the major bridge over the river and had a coffee and enjoyed the beautiful scenery. It was St. Patrick's Day and we met two American guys that were studying in Florence who invited us to an Irish pub called 'Friends' to have some green guiness beer. We thought it was quite ironic that the only bartender's were Asian, at an Irish pub, in Italy and we were speaking Spanish to each other... that was fun, and we headed home, picked up a bottle of wine and got ready to get some dinner. I think we based this whole trip around eating... haha... how could you not in Italy?
Well we had a nice dinner just the two of us and didn't make it out to the club that night because we were soo tired. We woke up late on Tuesday and had a lovely lunch right next to the Duomo which is a big, gorgeous cathedral in the middle of town. We walked to the Pitti Palace and Baboli Gardens on the other side of the river and spent a while exploring that. It was really pretty and reminded me a lot of the Horta Labyrinth in Barcelona. We got kind of over it and went home to meet Ash and Dionne. It was so good to finally see them and we all got ready to go out that night. We met up with our friend Brittany from Barcelona just to say hi and then with a bunch of girls from state that are studying in Florence. They took us to this really cool restaurant called 'Moyo' that was really cool. You buy a drink for like 5 euro and then its all you can eat... kind of like buffet style. it was so good catching up with everyone and we went and got some gelato at the girl's favorite place... amazing as always!
We met Ash and Dionne at the Duomo before going out to a bar called Red Garter and then a club called Twice. We randomly ran into a bunch of our guy friends from Barcelona and we all went out together. It was so much fun having a big group to hang out with and we had such a fun night together. The nightlife doesn't compare to Barcelona... but then again... I don't think anywhere can even come close to the craziness of Barcelona. We stayed out pretty late and woke up the next morning with ambitions to see the rest of Florence we had yet to see. We went to the Academia Gallery which holds the famous 'David' statue by Michaelangelo. It was the first statue of a naked man ever to be put on displayed and was made out of a single piece of marble. We stood in line for a while and once we saw it, it was bigger than we had imagined. So detailed and huge... it really took us by surprise.
Well unfortunately... after this... our '10 minute rest' turned into a '3 hour siesta' and we ended up not making it to the other sights we had planned on. We were pretty worn out of sightseeing though... things all started looking the same. The four of us went to another awesome Chinese place for dinner and just went home and had our own little slumber party at the hostel. We bought some souvenirs for ourselves and our families the next day before our train to Venice! We weren't extremely fond of Florence, the weather sucked and there just wasn't too much to do... so we were so excited to get to Venice!
-- Venice, sweet Venice --
We left around noon for Venice and drank some wine and talked the whole way... of course we would. We arrived to Venice and it's as if we were in an entirely different part of the world. The weather was beautiful and the scenery was unlike anything I'd ever seen. I have seen countless pictures of Venice... but there is no picture that could ever do this city justice. It was beautiful!!!!! We admired the city before catching a bus and then a cab to our.... campsite!
Yes, our hostel turned out to be a campsite... about a half hour, by boat, outside of Venice. Personally, I was fine with it... the rooms were really nice and clean (considering we were in double wides). But we had our own bathrooms, heaters and the campsite had a nice restaurant, store, bar and lounge... and was right on the water. By the time we arrived though, it was already getting late and we ended up ordering pizzas and sitting at the lagoon as the sun set. Hey... it could have been worse. I was ok, the other girls were a little disappointed... but we went to sleep and planned on spending the entire day in Venice on Friday.
We woke up early and took the boat to Venice. We were in awe the whole day... this city was straight out of a postcard! It was still pretty early, so we sat for a while and had breakfast at a cafe in one of the squares... with a gorgeous waiter, might I mention. I could fall in love in Venice and live happily ever after there... no questions asked... haha. Well we pretty much walked around all day... beside canals, over bridges, snapping pictures at every picturesque spot we found. Venice is known for it's glass, so we went into a couple really cute shops that sold glass jewelry and bought necklaces, matching friendship rings and I bought some really pretty stuff for my mom and aunts! I hope they like it.
We just walked around every part of the city, getting lost in little alleyways and canals. We stopped at a really cool restaurant for lunch and it ended up being really lively and fun. We picked up a bottle of wine before we left and headed to the Grand Canal (the main canal in Venice) to go on a gondola ride. We made a serious effort to find a cute 'gondolier', because come on, the pictures had to be cute... he had to be cute and wearing the whole 'striped shirt and flat hat' deal. We wouldn't settle for just anyone. How many times do you get to go on a gondola ride in Venice? haha. We are too much sometimes.
Well, mission accomplished, we found a cute gondolier named Antonio to whisk us away on his lovely gondola and show us a good time. So wine in hand, we set out on the Grand Canal on the gondola and were enjoying every minute of it. He was hilarious and let us all take turns standing up and rowing it. I must say, I thought for sure I would be the first to fall in... but luckily we all ended the ride just as dry as when we began. He was sooo sweet and invited us to come back that night once he was off and he would drive us around for free and show us Venice at night. He got off with us and bought us cappuccinos and put us at a table right on the Grand Canal where we sat for quite a while, once again, just taking it all in. We walked around the open air market for a while and then went to dinner where we had made reservations at a really nice restaurant on the Grand Canal. We figured we would do it big on our last night in Italy... and I don't think we could have picked a better place.
We had the greatest service, amazing wine and pasta and an unimaginable view as the sun set on the water. It sounds too good to be true, and it kind of was. Dinner was incredible, and we didn't want to leave. After giving the waiters besos... we headed back to the boat that would take us back home. We didn't make it too far without getting stopped by Antonio who insisted on buying us a glass of wine before we left. How could we resist!? We felt bad we weren't going to be able to come back for our 'midnight gondola ride' but we said our goodbyes to Antonio and this absolutely amazing city, and went home.
We stopped at the bar at home to get a bottle of champagne for that night to celebrate Dionne's birthday at midnight. Midnight became 9 p.m. because we were all tired and ready for bed. So we popped open the champagne and sang Happy Birthday to Dionne. As much as we loved Italy... we couldn't wait to be back in Barcelona. We had a big day planned for Dionne's Birthday too on Saturday.
Saturday was kind of a Joke. We rushed to the airport, thinking we were going to be late and miss our flight. Well it ended up being delayed an hour, so we were safe. Little did we know, it would continue to be delayed for the next 5 hours! Our noon flight didn't leave until 6 and we felt so bad that Dionne was spending her 21st birthday in an airport. We really did make the best of the situation though, and ended up having a fun time anyways!
-- Back in Barcelona --
When we FINALLY made it home, we were SOOO happy to be back. Italy was great, but we have come to the conclusion that Barcelona is truly the best city in the world... well at least out of all the places we have been. I don't think I could be this happy if I was studying anywhere else... I was soo ready to be back!!! So we immediately got ready for the night when we got back to our apartment. We had been talking with our club promoter friend who got us a table at one of the nicest clubs in Barcelona, Sutton. Dionne's grandma came over and hung out with us while we got ready... she is one of the sweetest people ever and it was so nice having her there.
We left for Sutton around 2 a.m. with the boys downstairs and definitely didn't leave until 8 a.m. when the lights turned on and we were the only ones still there dancing. haha. Good times! Such a fun night and we ended up just not going to sleep (don't ask me how) and meeting Dionne's grandma for brunch at the port. We were all slowly becoming zombies and after walking around the Bourne quarter of town for a while, we went home to fall fast, fast asleep.
Whew... that was a lot! Well we are so happy to be home, and are in utter disbelief that we only have a month left here. I hate it! I want to stay here forever and ever!!!! I am not going to take advantage of a single second here, and hopefully the next 30 days will go by slowly!
I never could have imagined this trip to be THIS amazing... no matter how much I write about how incredible it is, or what I say about it... I will never find the words to express how happy I am or how much this experience has changed me for the better. I am living everyday as if it were my last, because once its over, I won't ever get that day back again -- only the unforgettable memories that I will hold on to forever.
Todo mi amor...
