April 24 - 28, 2010
Hannah, Laura and I had a hilariously fantastic vacation in Rome. It was really hard leaving the flat on Saturday morning - I cried the whole way to the Tube station. It was hard for me to come to terms with the end of the program. Say goodbye to my flatmates was difficult but I had to remember that we all go to the same school and we'll see each other again! We arrived on Saturday evening after a smooth flight and simple train ride and had to find our hotel in the dark. I have to say, cities typically don't tend to put their train stations in the nicest parts of town so we wanted to find it fast. We did and it was no problem. The hotel staff were so great and accommodating - it was the cutest place ever! We had 3 single beds in a tiny, quaint room full of character. We were famished when we finally set in but it was 11:00pm so we just grabbed a slice of pizza from a place near our hotel. Mimmo helped us and thus we got our first taste of Roman men...
The next morning we tried to get to Mass at St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City but we didn't quite make the 10:30am because of lines and security checks and such. Not a big deal because it was a beautiful day and there was so much to see. The lines went surprisingly quickly and we joined a line to climb the cupola. We had no clue what that meant but we just did it. We saved 2 Euro by climbing the stairs the whole way and met a nice guy from Denmark. I ended up paying his entry because he only had a 50 note and the kiosk couldn't break it. We climbed all the way up with him, but conveniently we lost him. You're welcome, Denny! Haha We reached the top and had amazing views of the ancient city! Inside the basilica was beautiful. It was built on top of St Peter's tomb (the first Pope). Essentially we were where the Catholic church began - unreal. Mass was going on in the front half of the church and I asked the guards if I could go - they let me through hesitantly and I got there in time to take communion and say in prayer in the most beautiful church ever! There was security near every priest and they even had to walk down the aisle at the end. It was crazy to be there. I got to reflect on my experience and thank God for all He has given me - I am truly blessed.
Vatican City was my favorite area of the city but we also visited the Colosseum and Sistine Chapel which was so cool to see. The town is soooo old! I don't know if I'll visit anywhere older, that's for sure. One day we literally ate delicious pasta amongst some random ruins - crazy! We decided that dinner each night was our favorite memories because we met some insane people. Our waiters each night got a kick out of the loud American girls and we got a kick out of them in return. Nebal was in LOVE with Hannah the first night and just kept repeating, "Oh my God" over and over when he came to our table. He also claimed that, "You make me so soft" as he lit a candle...we hope that his thoughts were lost in translation and that he actually meant something like, "you make me melt"...ha! Hannah definitely got his number that evening. Hey, we got free dessert out of the deal and soooo many laughs it was all worth it. The next two nights we got a ton of attention from the men at the restaurants. One server didn't say anything except he sang,, "I love you babyyy and if it's quite alright, I need you babyyy..." Haha that's probably all he knew in English. Our last night we ate at Leonardo's Pizzeria where Jean joked around with us all night. He laughed that we wanted to share two pizzas and mocked us all night - it was so much fun! We ended our trip with a bang seeing the Trevi Fountain and Spanish Steps (or stairs as I liked to call them). On our way back to the hotel the last night we learned our Gelato lesson. We stopped in a cute place and ordered the waffle cone "special". Well...let me tell you...our cones looked like a circus! I had cookies and things all over my gelato. I swear, there should have been streamers and sparklers! Haha when Laura went to pay for her and Hannah's cones, it cost 24 Euro!!!!! We were shocked. Hahaha so we had to suck it up and pay nearly $18 for a cone of gelato. It was good, but I wont be eating it again anytime soon...ha!
Our journey back to London was long and we were hungry and dirty. We got a hostel near our old flat (sad) and checked in before meeting Justin at Churchill Arms (my fav pub) for dinner and our last pints. We talked and enjoyed each other's company until about 11:00pm when we headed for Westminster to watch Big Ben strike midnight for the last time. It was a great way to end our London stay.
Hannah, Laura and I had a hilariously fantastic vacation in Rome. It was really hard leaving the flat on Saturday morning - I cried the whole way to the Tube station. It was hard for me to come to terms with the end of the program. Say goodbye to my flatmates was difficult but I had to remember that we all go to the same school and we'll see each other again! We arrived on Saturday evening after a smooth flight and simple train ride and had to find our hotel in the dark. I have to say, cities typically don't tend to put their train stations in the nicest parts of town so we wanted to find it fast. We did and it was no problem. The hotel staff were so great and accommodating - it was the cutest place ever! We had 3 single beds in a tiny, quaint room full of character. We were famished when we finally set in but it was 11:00pm so we just grabbed a slice of pizza from a place near our hotel. Mimmo helped us and thus we got our first taste of Roman men...
The next morning we tried to get to Mass at St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City but we didn't quite make the 10:30am because of lines and security checks and such. Not a big deal because it was a beautiful day and there was so much to see. The lines went surprisingly quickly and we joined a line to climb the cupola. We had no clue what that meant but we just did it. We saved 2 Euro by climbing the stairs the whole way and met a nice guy from Denmark. I ended up paying his entry because he only had a 50 note and the kiosk couldn't break it. We climbed all the way up with him, but conveniently we lost him. You're welcome, Denny! Haha We reached the top and had amazing views of the ancient city! Inside the basilica was beautiful. It was built on top of St Peter's tomb (the first Pope). Essentially we were where the Catholic church began - unreal. Mass was going on in the front half of the church and I asked the guards if I could go - they let me through hesitantly and I got there in time to take communion and say in prayer in the most beautiful church ever! There was security near every priest and they even had to walk down the aisle at the end. It was crazy to be there. I got to reflect on my experience and thank God for all He has given me - I am truly blessed.
Vatican City was my favorite area of the city but we also visited the Colosseum and Sistine Chapel which was so cool to see. The town is soooo old! I don't know if I'll visit anywhere older, that's for sure. One day we literally ate delicious pasta amongst some random ruins - crazy! We decided that dinner each night was our favorite memories because we met some insane people. Our waiters each night got a kick out of the loud American girls and we got a kick out of them in return. Nebal was in LOVE with Hannah the first night and just kept repeating, "Oh my God" over and over when he came to our table. He also claimed that, "You make me so soft" as he lit a candle...we hope that his thoughts were lost in translation and that he actually meant something like, "you make me melt"...ha! Hannah definitely got his number that evening. Hey, we got free dessert out of the deal and soooo many laughs it was all worth it. The next two nights we got a ton of attention from the men at the restaurants. One server didn't say anything except he sang,, "I love you babyyy and if it's quite alright, I need you babyyy..." Haha that's probably all he knew in English. Our last night we ate at Leonardo's Pizzeria where Jean joked around with us all night. He laughed that we wanted to share two pizzas and mocked us all night - it was so much fun! We ended our trip with a bang seeing the Trevi Fountain and Spanish Steps (or stairs as I liked to call them). On our way back to the hotel the last night we learned our Gelato lesson. We stopped in a cute place and ordered the waffle cone "special". Well...let me tell you...our cones looked like a circus! I had cookies and things all over my gelato. I swear, there should have been streamers and sparklers! Haha when Laura went to pay for her and Hannah's cones, it cost 24 Euro!!!!! We were shocked. Hahaha so we had to suck it up and pay nearly $18 for a cone of gelato. It was good, but I wont be eating it again anytime soon...ha!
Our journey back to London was long and we were hungry and dirty. We got a hostel near our old flat (sad) and checked in before meeting Justin at Churchill Arms (my fav pub) for dinner and our last pints. We talked and enjoyed each other's company until about 11:00pm when we headed for Westminster to watch Big Ben strike midnight for the last time. It was a great way to end our London stay.
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