Roma, Italia

Hi everyone~

We got in at about 1 am this morning, so I was not able to update the blog when I got home.

We left on Thursday night around 2:45 on the x22 bus that leaves from our school to Stansted Airport in London. That took about an hour and then we got to the airport and checked in. Ryan Air is the airline we took, and it is a VERY cheap airline, but you can see where they cut down on their costs. When we went to check in, we gave them our passport and confirmation number, and they gave us a handwritten boarding ticket... There are no assigned seats, so when we board the plane it is a mad house! Everyone is cramming towards the front to check in and to get onto the plane to get a good seat. We boarded the plane around 5:15, and took off around 6:00 am. We landed around 9:45 Rome time. I was a little nervous about the landing, because the rest of the group that I went with had taken Ryan Air before and they said the landing was terrible. They thought the pilot was going WAY to fast on the landing and said they hit the ground so hard... and I do NOT do well with landings. Luckily this landing was fine, and I tried to sleep through it so I didn't get sick. They play advertisements throughout the entire flight and try to sell food and tickets for buses during the plane ride. After we got off, we went through customs and bought a ticket for a bus to the center of Rome. Luckily we only brought backpacks so we didn't have to check in luggage. The bus took about 30 min or so, and when we got off, it was only about a 5 min walk to our hostel.

We checked in, sorted out our beds, and were ready to take off. The rooms were the nicest we've stayed in, and there was a lot of room. We even had a TV and a fridge! And they bring breakfast to you in the morning!

We left the room, and got a bite to eat at a little cafe. We got a real taste of Italy, and it was neat that it seemed like a real 'local' place, not so touristy. We kind of found it in a little off street. We saw so many things while we walked, but didn't always know what we were seeing, hopefully I can list most of the things we saw. Our first thing we went to see was the Piazza Venezia. It was a huge monument type area dedicated to King Victor Emanual II and the unknown soldier. The next thing we went to see was the Forum. That was CRAZY. They had columns and stone that had been there thousands of years! It was on the way to the Colosseum. The Colosseum was HUGE. It was really neat to go into it, and walk around. They are slowly restoring it, so that you get a better picture of what it used to look like. I bought an audio guide as well, and I got to learn a little more. We also saw the Arc de Constantine right out side of the Colosseum, and traveled up this hill to another chapel.

After the Colosseum, we wandered into a park and got a nice view of sunset and then headed back. When we got back, we rested a little, while Danielle went to and internet cafe to register for her classes at UCLA. We all got 15 free min of internet with our hostel. When she got back, we went to dinner at this little Italian restaurant that was only open for 3 weeks. It was REALLY good food, we let him order for us, and he picked all good things.

After dinner, we went to find the Trevi fountain. That was SO neat, we made sure to throw a coin in the fountain and make a wish. There were vendors all over trying to sell us roses and toys and pictures. It takes a while to get them to go away but after a while they get the hint. If they see couples, they give the girl a few roses and say they are free and then stick around a while, and then tell her that since he gave them to her for free, could she give him a little money back? And then the boyfriend is usually suckered into paying for the roses. We picked up some gelato and sat on the stairs for a while and admired the fountain. After, we went home and fell asleep. There were 2 empty beds in our room when we had left for the day, but when we got back, we'd met the two girls that were occupying them. They were from Barcelona, and were only there for the day.

Saturday, we woke up at 8:00 to leave for the Vatican. We took the metro, and found our way. There was HUGE line for the Vatican, but it didn't take too long. I saw my sorority sister, Taylor, in line with her friends! She was in Rome for the weekend, and is studying in Florence. Around the line outside the Vatican are a lot of homeless disabled people, many with physical disabilities looking for money. When we got into the Vatican it was so big and it was crazy to see paintings by Rafael and Michaelangelo. Which leads us to the Sistine Chapel. We weren't supposed to take pictures, but Chris was able to. It was SO crowed, but it was amazing! We sat around the edge and just stared for the longest time at all of it.

After we were done at the Vatican, we walked to the another little cafe for lunch, and then made our way to St. Peter's Square and chapel. There, we saw Pope John Paul I tomb and many other tombs and everything around and in it. On Sunday, Chris got to go to the top of it. He said it was an amazing view, it's the highest point in Rome, nothing is allowed to be higher. He also went Sunday morning to see the Pope as he blessed everyone from a window in the chapel, but we'd split up from him and forgot to go. He said the square was extremely crowded.

After that, we went to find the Pantelon, which again was HUGE and we got to go inside. it was really pretty.

Then, we made our way to the Spanish Steps, and on our way there was a huge shopping district with all high end shops, so we got to pass through it. The street was called Via Condotti. We climbed the steps and sat on them for a while, looking at the HUGE crowds below. At the top was a little chapel we went into and lots of artist painting on the street. We then went to another Piazza to take a few pictures and see the crowds. For some reason a lot of 'punk' type dressed kids were hanging around the area at night. Then we caught the metro home, and got dressed to go meet 2 of my sorority sisters, Brenna and Taylor at a pub crawl. Everyone that I know that has gone to Rome has done this pub crawl and really enjoyed it. It was a fun group of people, and nice pubs and clubs, and we all got shirts that said "I came, I saw, I crawled". It was really nice to see Brenna, and meet Taylor's friends. Brenna will be one of my roomates next quarter in the sorority house! She if from Irvine as well and went to middle school and high school with me.

We got home pretty late and went to bed.

Sunday, we woke up, checked out at ten, and then the girls wanted to do a little shopping, so we split up from Chris. We went to Porta Portese, this flea market we had heard of in Rome. Apparently it is the largest in Rome! It was more like a garage sale. But we found our rings from Rome, so that was exciting! We took the bus from there to another shopping street, called Via del Corso, that Brenna had told us about. I got a few souviners, we went back to the Trevi fountain to see it in the day, and it sprinkled a little throughout the day. Friday and Saturday were SO clear and sunny, but not Sunday. We had to drop our luggage off at a internet cafe/laundromat down the street from our hostel earlier that day, and met back there at 5. We used the internet for a little while, packed up the rest of the stuff we bought and headed back to the bus to take us to the airport. We took the 6:00 pm bus. We got to the airport, and checked in. We forgot that we could only carry on 100ml of liquid on our bags, and Danielle bought a small bottle of wine, just over 100ml and it got taken away. We got into the waiting area and got food. We were a little anxious because we were to land at 11 pm and we had to catch the 12 pm bus back to Colchester, or we'd be catching a cab or waiting at the airport until the 4am bus. Then our plane got pushed back from 8:15 to 8:30! And then 8:20 came around and we still hadn't boarded the plane. We knew we would have to run off the plane as soon as we got off. They opened the gate, and everyone rushed to the front. Then we had to take a bus for 5 min to the plane. Then everyone ran onto the plane and luckily we were one of the first on, so we got a front seat to run off the plane to the bus. On the plane, the lady that sat in front of me threw up the ENTIRE time, it was so bad. The landing was the smoothest landing I had ever experienced. Then when we could, we ran off the plane down this LONG path to customs. Customs took much longer than we wished, and we ran again to the bus. Chris was the first to get to the bus stop, and he got there at 11:57 and watched the 12:00 bus leave.......

SO... since it had now turned to Danielle's 21st birthday, we all decided we didn't want her to spend her first 4 hours in the airport. So we all pitched in for a cab and it took us home. It wasn't too expensive, but we were kind of bummed because we had paid for our bus ticket back, to save money...

If the plane hadn't been a half hour late we definitely would've made it.

Overall, Rome was a great trip to end on. Danielle and I both agreed we are ready to go home, and miss all this stress of traveling.

We noticed a lot of obelisks in Rome, and they all had different meanings, we think. Some looked similar. The traffic was very busy and LOTS of motorcycles and vespas. We almost rented one for 8.00 euros an hour, but then we told Brenna, and Brenna asked if we were willing to die. haha. Apparently, the traffic is too crazy for someone who doesn't know how to ride that well. The men in Italy were very aggressive and would cat call at us all the time. That wasn't very cool at all. We ate lots of gelato, pizza and paninis. It is not a big city, Paris is probably bigger, but there was much more to see. I think.

Anyway, back to my papers, I have two more to finish this week, and I have to edit my other two as well. Tonight we are going out to dinner for Danielle's birthday, and it will be the first time all 6 of us American kids have gotten together in a REALLY long time. Yesterday was my 2 week mark, only 13 more days here! It has gone so fast!

A new girl moved in yesterday. Alex, one of our flat mates left a few weeks ago, and she just took his place for the rest of the year.

Last week there was a meeting for all the flats in Bertand Russell Tower. Every flat was supposed to send one rep. Danielle couldn't go because she had class, so she chose a number and the furthest away would have to go to the meeting. They all wanted to go first to choose the number and that was fine with me. I listened to everyone's number, and then when Majid picked 7 and Courtney picked 11, I picked 9 and that way I couldn't lose. Anyway, Jenner picked some number like 80, and it was 1, so he was supposed to go to the meeting. The meeting was for the mess that everyone causes like throwing toilet paper out the window and what not, but Jenner didn't go.

So now, we have all have to go to a meeting together on Wednesday, and if you don't go you get fined 25 pounds. What a welcome gift to the new girl. haha

That's about it. Thursday there is a Christmas Pub Crawl in town and since it's my birthday, just about all of the flat is going and so are Nha and Danielle.

Off to dinner! See you all VERY soon! Love you all!!