Primero: Roma!

Rome was the first stop of my many adventures! I went there to visit Melanie and Neil, but went a day early to explore a little on my own. I would not have chosen to see Rome if it Melanie and Neil had not been there, but now I regret even considering not going. This city was the most majestic city I have ever been to, with 2000-3000 year old buildings and monuments on every single corner (at least). I have literally never seen so much history packed into one city! It is indescribable!

I took a map and circled every area I wanted to see, then followed it walking for 8 hours straight as a self-guided walking tour. And as I walked from one to another, I would stop every 20 feet to check out a new church, store, restaurant, or monument that was new and exciting! I took way too many pictures, so hopefully the ones I post give just a general idea of some of the things I found beautiful and mind-boggling.

My favorite things were: sipping tea next to a beautiful big church, walking in Piazza Espangola (where I tried roasted chestnuts and my first true Italian pizza for lunch, and was the most high-end and interesting shopping street of Rome), seeing the GIGANTIC "Wedding Cake" also known as "Victor Emmanuel Monument", meeting 4 cute Spanish boys in the Piazza Navona (covered in street art) and realizing that I seriously need to practice my Spanish, dancing to a blues band by the Castle Santaigo, and sipping an "apperativo" in Trastevere. An "apperativo" is a traditional Italian night-time/dinner thing. In trastevere there are dozens of bars that charge you for 1 drink, usually about 5-10 euros worth, and then they put out a buffet of all sorts of veggies, meats, and italian finger foods that you can help yourself to with the price of the drink! So this was economical, and the easiest way for me to try a BUNCH of Italian things for the price of not even one! And so I sat there at one of the tables on the terrace and people watched while I also practiced my Italian with my handy-dandy Italian conversation translation book.

The most incredible part of my first day began when I was walking home. It was about 8:30 pm and it had just gotten dark and I figured that, for safety reasons (mom, dad, and mimi), and I needed to start heading home to the hostel. As I was walking out to the street, completely puzzled by the awful bus system in Rome (I will get more to my feelings on Italian transportation later), a nice girl and guy about my age asked me if I needed help finding my way. Halleluja! I knew they were safe because they were very clearly Americans who were just exploring the city like me, so I asked them where I could catch the bus to get back to my hostel. We started walking to the bus stop (they wanted to show me to make sure I got there safe) and I found out that they were both students studying abroad in Rome! So we were having a blast getting to know each other, and then I decided to stay with them and explore the city with them a little before going home! They took me up on a hill to the best view of all of Rome at night, then we went to their favorite gelato spot, and then to the top of their appartment roof overlooking the Vatican! I saw the Pope's lights on just across the street! And after that, they wanted to make sure I got home safely so the boy paid for my taxi and sent me on my way! It was an incredible first night!

The magic of Roma!