Italy!!

So let me begin with the long trip! I have to try and stay caught up otherwise I definitely will still be blogging when I get back to the US to get everything in. I've finished 3 papers and given my two presentations, so it's 5 papers left for the semester. That's one a week so I think that is manageable. I am taking a mental break today after giving both presentations yesterday (basically, I'm getting all the sleep I didn't get Sunday night) so here goes! I'll try to keep my descriptions at a manageable length. But honestly, I could write a book on how much I loved Italy

Katie, Jordan, and I left Thursday night from Gatwick airport on Ryanair. Ryanair is sort of a sketchy airline. The prices are really, really cheap but they try to find other ways to charge you money. You are only allowed one carry-on which has to be less than 10 kg (though they never actually weighed any of ours). When we landed in Rome, everybody on the flight clapped. That actually happened all three times. That was definitely the only time I have heard people applaud someone landing a plane, but maybe they were just feeling extra encouraging.

Our hostel was really nice (Let's Go recommendation!) and only like a 10 minute walk from the Coliseum. We asked the guy at the hostel for a recommendation for a restaurant and we ended up at this place right next to the Coliseum. They had some of the best pasta I have ever tasted. Everyone there was local so we knew it was going to be good! Someone even started singing opera outside while we were eating!

the beginning of so much delicious food

  It will probably start to seem like all we did was eat on this trip but we actually fit in time for other things as well. We went home for the night because we needed to be well rested for how much walking we were doing!

The next day we woke up ready for Ancient Roman day. We ended up paying for a guided tour of the Coliseum and Palatine Hill/Roman Forum because we wouldn't have had any idea what anything was. The stories we heard about the Coliseum were insane. 700,000 died in there doing battle with each other or various animals. Craziness. A lot of it is actually recreations but some of it is legitimately what the Romans built thousands of years ago!

Coliseum!

basking in the sunlight

prepping for battle

its really old

us!

Also just need to mention - it was 70 degrees and sunny all three days in Rome. It was amazing. You start to forget what the sun looks like being in London. I haven't felt heat in so long! It was great. We continued our foray into Ancient Rome with a trip through the Palatine Hill (home of the first palace) and the Roman Forum, which used to be the center of Ancient Rome. Both were incredible. It's amazing how long some of this stuff has survived. 

sight of the first palace (Palatine - palace...)

Roman Forum!

This door is 1700 years old and they still use the original key. definitely would've lost it by now

not bad work

it's seen better days

Once we finished Ancient Rome, we just wandered around for a while. There is basically a sight every way you look. We stopped outside the Vittorio, which was absolutely stunning but I have no idea what purpose it serves.

"the wedding cake of Rome"

   We walked onto the Pantheon which was beautiful. There really is a McDonald's across the street like Donnie told me! Unfortunately it was undergoing some work so you can't really see the whole thing. We dubbed it the Terminator Pantheon.

I'll be back

love love love

  Then it was time for the first gelato. It would turn out to be the first of 7 (in 5 days). I really can't explain just how delicious this gelato was. You can just imagine it.

legit. delish.

   We made it to Piazza Navona when we decided we had definitely had enough sights for one day. Dinner time!!

Me with my best friend in Piazza Navona

On our way to dinner we had an unfortunate incident with birds. We were walking along the Tiber when we suddenly heard very loud noises which turned out to be huge flocks of birds. They all landed in a tree and all decided to poop at the same time. It was basically raining. It was disgusting

Anyway, since we had pasta the night before it was time for our first pizza! I don't think I saw a single slice of pizza in Rome, they always came as a personal pizza. It was pretty delicious.

mmm

Our after dinner snack for the night was a canoli! I didn't realize how good a canoli could be until being in Italy. This one was amazing, but the other one...I don't even know what to say. I'll get there.

loving life

We hung out around the river that night. While we were sitting in front of a statue, this man was trying to sell us bracelets and he told us this whole long story about how they sing about Obama in Senegal. He told me he was number one and I am number two. Oh well, at least I came in second. We bought bracelets because we wanted a reminder of the story. It had been a long day though so we headed in for tonight. Plus, the next day we had to get up early to do the Vatican Museums! That post coming up soon!