Rome was an ABSOLUTE dream… Such a dream that I completely forgot how much I fell in love with Italy when I first went with my family prior to fifth grade. THAT is another place I could TOTALLY see myself living…
Let me start from the beginning… Typically I leave for trips on a Thursday evening or Friday morning, but having Sarah in town required me to leave a day later, so I figured that it would be best to go to a place I have already been. Running on absolutely no sleep, due to packing for Rome {post Barcelona}, Megan and I had to leave for the airport around four in the morning and Sarah joined for the journey to the airport. It all seemed like it was smooth sailing, except for the fact that there was no Starbucks in our terminal of the airport; however, we were able to deal without that. Upon arrival in Rome, we had our bags and were ready for our driver to pick us up. Thirty minutes after promised there was still no sign of him, so I gave him a call and was then told that he mixed up the times and had confused us with another client. That being said, Megan and I tried to get a taxi {or like eight} but we were turned down by EVERY one, saying that there was a taxi strike and they refused to go to the city center {which was where our AirBNB was located}. Already running a lot later than expected, we decided to get two bus tickets which took us to the bus stop that was closest to the city center; however, we STILL walked OVER SIX FREAKIN MILES to get to where we were staying. Lugging our large baggage across the entire town, sweating in our airplane outfits {because it was an early morning and we thought we were going to be able to go straight to our place}, and stopping along the way for our first Italian pizza only ten minutes away from the apartment. Just as we were finishing up our HUGE pizzas {less than thirty minutes later}, I got a message from the person who was going to be checking us in saying that he will not be able to check us in for another two and a half hours.
For two hours, we lugged our luggage around once more, hitting up a gelato store just up the street that was recommended to us, sitting on a bench in a main plaza just chatting, and then looking at a street market that was near where we were staying {ps: found some interesting goodies… contact my bro if you're interested in seeing them}. With still thirty minutes to spare, we figured we would go to the apartment early in hopes of the person arriving early to check us in once more… It didn't happen… He was twenty minutes late, BUT the inside of the place was beautiful and the location was perfect. We were about fifteen minutes {walking distance} away from EVERYTHING, so naturally our first stop was Trevi Fountain once we had gotten ourselves all dolled up. It was a beautiful as I remembered. Sparkling blue water and extravagant marble sculptures, and there I was, sitting on the edge, taking it all in. We took our typical photos {with and of each other}, tossed coins in {in hopes of finding love and good fortune}, and we were even asked to take pictures with random dudes {weird… but whatever}.
After taking in the beauty, for quite some time, we decided to walk to the Spanish Steps. In hopes of finding the restaurant that my family and I went to years ago {that I must say is absolutely amazing}, we stumbled upon a rooftop bar instead. With the clinking of our Bellini glasses, we were cheers-ing to our first night in Italy. Talking, laughing, and sipping the evening away for almost two hours, we were eventually told kindly to leave as the bar was in need of preparing the area for dinner. With that, we were on our way back to the apartment to get ready for the night; changing our shoes to “going out shoes” {aka booties} and putting on a little more coverup from the long day of travel. Within fifteen minutes, we headed out to find dinner and wound up at one of the main plazas, just down the street from the apartment. The aesthetics were amazing; however, the food was NOT, but I guess sometimes you have to pay more for the location than the food. Once we had eaten what ever was put in front of us, we headed to an Irish pub that was recommended to us by one of Megan’s friends. The atmosphere was super fun AND the bartenders were SUPER cute!! Consuming more than we should’ve, we were given “extra strong” {but extra yummy} strawberry daiquiris and some shots… all for FREE!! After about two hours of of drinking with the bartenders, talking about life with them, and exchanging Facebook information, Megan and I were on our way back to the apartment so that we could have a full day on Sunday.
Expecting to wake up at a reasonable time, we ended up sleeping in until almost noon!! Knowing that we had to be at our pizza making class at four, we decided it would be best that we start out on the other side of the river and make our way into the center again. Let me tell you guys something though, THANK GOODNESS for the iPhone and the Maps application, because without that, we would have been able to get NOWHERE!! I have learned to always load the map using internet before leaving a place and then keeping the app open so that I can just follow the dot {because homegirl has no NO data to be used here}. In about twenty minutes we found ourselves at Saint Peter’s Square where the pope just so happened to be making a speech… I SAW ITAY’S FREAKIN POPE IN PERSON!! How many people can say that?!?! Although it wasn’t long {because we only caught the end of the speech}, we were going to head to the Sistine Chapel and the Vatican; however, the crowds made it extremely impossible, so we decided to head back to the Spanish Steps to have lunch at the place I had been YEARS ago. Boy, was it necessary considering we hadn't eaten since dinner the previous night, and BOY was it as good as I remembered {sorry again mama and dad for waking y'all up at four in the morning to help me find the restaurant!!}.
We then began wandering a little more on our stuffed stomachs and eventually wound up at the Colosseum. Not having the chance to go in because the wait was FOREVER {but it’s okay because I went in with my family}, we walked around the entire thing, whipped out the selfie stick {THANKS MAMA!! It was a HIT!!}, and took our fair share of photos while getting made fun of by other tourists {but they don't have cute pictures like us}. We sat for a while on the fence just staring at it and taking it all in. Because Megan had never been, I was able to remember some of the things that I was told when I first visited, so I spilled ALL my knowledge to her… Hopefully it was correct.
Within no time, we were back on the original side of the river and headed to our pizza making class. Because we are both not into the whole Spanish food thing, considering it’s all fish, ham, poached eggs, tapas, etc… we decided to book a pizza making class while we were in our Spanish society class the prior week. Having paid about forty-two euros, we were expecting a pretty good class. Before I had put in all my card information, I read all the reviews that RAVED about how amazing the class was… Little did we know that we were going to have to switch the date, time, and location of our class, and honestly it was kind of unprofessional. We had a chef who spoke no English and a translator who didn't really either. The restaurant that we were switched to had food laying out all over {smelling of fish}, the chef was basically doing all of our work for us {and didn't even let us flip our pizza dough}, and the translator was a twenty year old girl who was extremely socially awkward. Because the dough has to sit for a minimum of eight hours in an area with no light, we ended up using other dough that was given to us and within minutes our pizzas were out and ready. We were given cheap wine {that did NOT taste like wine at all}, “our” completed pizzas, and then we were told to record a video saying how amazing our experience was and how we recommend it to everybody {it was a little odd}. We weren't there long though, considering we had both eaten a whole entire pizza less than two hours before the class, so like that, we were on our way back to the Trevi Fountain to attempt to use the selfie stick again.
After a couple of tries with the selfie stick, we were not feeling it because the lighting was not doing us justice at all SO we made our way to a gelato store that was right next to the Pantheon {shoutout Nicolette Blatt for telling me}. The place had ONE HUNDRED FIFTY different flavors!! Although there was no direction saying that we had to get a ticket first in order to get our gelato, we managed to figure it out on our own and the gelato was indulged in no time!! You would've thought that we were running on absolutely no food if you saw how fast we ate our gelato and cones haha. We made our way back to the apartment, took a nap, and once again got ready to meet up with Maddy.
Meeting in the plaza, just down the street from us, it was SOOO nice having the chance to see another familiar face!! We were shown around to the “it” places for the college students at her university, we walked around as she pointed out good restaurants and bars, and we eventually went to a rooftop area and got ourselves some drinks of our own. For almost three hours, we just talked about everything that has happened since we last saw each other over winter break. Filling each other in on abroad drama, boys from home, boys from our new countries, and life in general. For those of you who don't know Maddy Orlando, I REALLY recommend you reach out to her and ask her to tell you a story because I FREAKIN LOVE listening to her tell stories, and honestly it’s one of the things I miss most about TCU. Following our talk, Maddy took us to a sandwich bar that served us Nutella sandwiches that were the size of our heads, and then we also treated ourselves to ANOTHER gelato. With that though, we said our goodbyes and we were off in our different directions because Maddy had class in the morning.
We packed as fast as we could considering we had to be at the airport around eight in the morning and we fell asleep instantaneously. As I sit during class typing this, I can’t even begin to tell y'all how dang close I pushed arriving back in Madrid. Our flight was delayed and during the three hour flight I managed to compose a major video project that was due in this business class. I got home with only time to get into “school appropriate” clothes and managed to run to the train station, BUT I don't regret my timing one bit.
I have never eaten SOOO much food {that I shouldn't have} and explored such a beautiful place for a second time. Now that I have a food baby {that continues to remain thanks to being abroad} I have to get ready for Budapest and spring break.
Side note: I am SO lucky to have the opportunity to study abroad and see a new country {almost} every weekend, and I truly don't think my parents realize how much I really appreciate it. I am so fortunate, I am so blessed, and THIS experience is what I needed. This moment could NOT have come at a more perfect time in my life. I am realizing who my true friends are, I am realizing that loving adventure is just as important as loving another person, and I am realizing that family is everything… Currently counting down the days until my brother flies out to Madrid and spend a little over a week with me. Currently reminiscing on the FaceTimes I have with my mama every week. Currently thinking about how much I want my Papa to be fully healthy so that him and my Nanie could visit me. Currently trying to figure out a way to talk my Nana to fly out after her last experience in Europe a couple of years ago {she got mugged}. Currently just thinking and missing my family and home, but thank goodness for God who blessed me with a best friend while I am abroad.
xoxo v
