I now PREFER creepy Irish guys.

*NOTICE* There are not many pictures up yet but I will add more soon!


So I've been in Rome for about a day and a half and it has been amazing. I have a feeling that the stories from this trip could be equal parts hilarious and slightly traumatizing but more on that later.

Friday, March 12th :: Travel Day

The cab was coming for Kelly and I at 3:45am. Since I am a procrastinator, I had to finish packing Thursday night and didn't get to sleep until about 1:45 and I was waking up at 2:45. The best part was that a couple was having a very large fight in the hallway and I'm fairly certain the whole building could hear them. Anyway, we get to the airport and are ready to find our gate around 4:30 when we look on the departure board and see our flight was delayed to 11:15. First I complained a little bit about how I could've slept longer and then laughed at the situation in general and decided to just go with it. At least we weren't running to our gate because it was closing. I'd much rather be there far too early than have to rush.

When we finally arrived in Rome it was 4 or 5 something in the afternoon. We took our first adventure on public transportation and made our way to Termini station and our hostel. Our hostel is directly across from the Santa Maria Maggiore (Saint Mary Major) which is the first church built in Rome and the largest of the 26 churches in Rome dedicated to Mary. It's awesome. Also, our room has a BALCONY. Kelly and I may have freaked out a little bit. So after we composed ourselves, we rested a bit and then went to meet Laura and Natalie at the Tiziano. I have missed my "Little Guy" so much and we had a heartfelt reunion. After our little reunion Laura, Kelly, and I went to Pascucci's for a quick sandwich and a frulatto (WHICH ARE AWESOME) and then met up with Natalie and her parents to get drinks. After that, we went to Abbey Theater (an Irish pub! In Rome!) for fries and drinks...again.


After that, Kelly and I had our first gelato experience at the Frigidarium (It was magical!) and then made the trek back to our hostel.

Saturday, March 13th :: Rome sight-seeing Day 1
We slept in a bit and met Laura for lunch at L’insalata Ricca where I had my first Italian meal. It was crepes with ricotta cheese and spinach and then creme brulee for dessert. Holy crap. It was so good. After lunch, Laura took us around to see the sights of Rome. This consisted of: Campo di Fiori, Piazza Novana, The Pantheon, The Trevi Fountain, and the Spanish steps. On our way to the Spanish steps we walked along a road that was the equivalent of 5th Avenue in New York City. If you’ve never been to New York City, there are basically a TON of shops. It was cool to see Italy’s version of a shopping district. The stores are so small and almost everything is behind glass. My favorite of everything we saw was the Trevi Fountain. Walking the way we did, you hear it long before you see it and then suddenly the buildings part and there it is in all its glory. I’m a big fan of fountains in general, but this is most definitely my favorite. It’s just magnificent. Fun fact: Kelly was almost pick-pocketed at the Trevi! Kelly caught the girl, thankfully. We kept seeing the pick-pocketers around the city but that’s probably because they had incredibly distinguishable sequin hats on that were obnoxious. If they were trying to blend in, they failed. Geez, I could be a better pick-pocketer… After our sight-seeing, we decided to meet up again later that night for dinner.
ATTENTION: This next section contains adult themes and could potentially make people feel very awkward so if you don’t like being an adult or feeling awkward, skip this part.
The bus ride back to our hostel was reason number one for the title of this post. The bus was extremely packed but I luckily landed a seat after a stop or two. While I was standing, a guy behind me started rubbing his elbow against me so I moved away as much as I could because I thought I was in his way. Well, he got closer. After I landed a seat, Kelly came closer to me as did the elbow rubber. He started rubbing both of us with his elbow and breathing really heavily and tried to grab Kelly’s rear. We both shot him dirty looks (while I simultaneously prayed to Mary, who I again, brought on this trip. She’s a great lady.) and he moved away, but when we turned around he came right back. We’re both fairly certain he was touching himself in a place that is definitely not appropriate to touch in public, let alone on a crowded bus. So gross. The whole walk back to the hostel we talked about how grossed out we were and how these creepy Italian guys made creepy Irish guys look downright saintly.
Reason number two happened after we got off the bus and started walking back to the Tiziano. We were walking by the bus stop and I was just minding my own business when I notice a man in sunglasses. I see him pull his jacket up and it takes me a minute to realize it, but yes, he flashed us his wiener. I almost ran into it with my hand. Needless to say, after these two experiences, I was ready to stay in my hostel the rest of the night and do something that could help me get back my innocence (like watch a Disney movie or something along those lines) and wait to leave for Florence. It took a few minutes for the shock of what just happened (IN BROAD DAYLIGHT IN PUBLIC WITH A BUNCH OF OTHER PEOPLE AROUND!) to wear off but when it did (and when Natalie stopped laughing/consoling), we left for dinner.
AND WE’RE BACK!
I can’t remember where we went but I do remember it was great. I had my first real Italian pizza and it was huge. I ate a whole pie by myself which sounds really gross but actually is completely doable because they’re a lot thinner and lighter than in America. Later, I tried a nutella crepe. I am now a firm believer that nutella will taste good with almost anything. After our crepes and gelato we went to Scholars which is another Irish pub in Rome!
Here is where the story of Dean and Chaos ensues. It took some searching but we were able to find ourselves a place to sit. While doing so we apparently made a friend. Here is his background story: His name is Dean and he and his brother, DJ, are meteorologists who live in Naples but were in Rome for some reason with their father (who was back at the hotel) Dean is apparently from Ohio. DJ is apparently from Indiana or Texas. DJ is going to be the governor of Texas someday. Dean has lived in Australia, Scotland, Africa, and now Rome. He said if he would ever move back to the states he would live in Seattle. Dean had a journal called Chaos. He asked us to write one entire page in it but we gave him two because we are giving people. Obviously, we changed our names from Kim, Natalie, Kelly, and Laura to Andrea (or Beautiful, since he couldn’t remember my name and I told him to give me one he would remember…what a charmer…), Natasha, Claire, and Kristen. In his journal we noticed other people wishing him a good time on his trip but since it was called Chaos and he told us to write the craziest thing we could think of we all contributed our own parts. We wrote about the flashing incident earlier that day and how he should not do that to attract ladies because it most likely will not work…at least not on any respectable woman…we also wrote about how he probably picked the four most awkward people to write in his journal. We’re all kind of hoping he publishes it and makes it into a book. So we talked to Dean for awhile longer and tried to help him land a lady-friend by telling him to use the pick-up line “I want to get married in a church” and then walk away. Now, none of us actually believe this will ever work on a girl, but he could do a pretty convincing Scottish accent so you never know. We Americans do love accents. I’m not really sure why, but he bought us all a round of drinks. Out of nowhere he asked what we were all drinking and bought them. I refused but he bought it anyway so I went with it. Unfortunately for me, I was drinking Guinness. One pint is enough for me but as soon as I sipped the second I decided I don’t like Guinness as much as I thought I did and I’m not sure if I’ll be able to drink it again anytime soon…Dean tried to get us to go to the Abbey Theater with him but instead we just left and ended our hilariously traumatizing evening.
Sunday, March 14th :: Rome sight-seeing Day 2!
I’m not really sure what we had for lunch but I’m sure it involved something Italian and gelato. The big news is that we visited the Coliseum and the Roman Forum! They were both exceedingly cool and ancient.

After that, we met Natalie, Laura (the other Laura! She is Natalie and Laura H’s roommate. She is awesome!) and Natalie’s parents. We had gelato (BEFORE dinner!) and then went to Abbey Theater for the traditional hamburger and fries before Sunday night mass! The hamburger was as big as my face but I ate it all despite the aforementioned gelato. Mass was quite…cozy because it was in a small little chapel that the Saint Mary’s program utilizes. After mass, we got more gelato…when in Rome!

Monday, March 15th :: Rome sight-seeing Day 3!
I felt very Catholic this day.
Kelly and I decided to get up early and finally utilize the free breakfast we’re offered. It was great! The cappuccino man put a heart in the foam! I didn’t think that ever actually happened! After that, we decided that since Mary has been so good to us (and what a coincidence that we’re right across from the Piazza di Santa Maria Maggiore…), we would go visit the Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica. It was a great decision on our part. It is a beautiful basilica and I won’t lie, I almost cried. After I walked around its entirety I sat down and said a prayer to Mary and was near tears. It is truly one of my favorite things about Rome. After that we decided to try the gelateria next to our hostel which was a GREAT decision.Caffe and tiramisu gelato was a fantastic idea on my part. We proceeded to go to our room, sit on our balcony overlooking the city, eat our gelato, and bask in the warm, sun-shiny weather. It was a great start to the morning. Later, we ate at L’insalata Ricca and then made our way to the Vatican. My first experience at the Vatican was stepping in some kid’s throw up, which was not a very promising start, but once inside the basilica I forgot all about that. I felt more Catholic just being in Saint Peter’s. It was truly awesome. Sadly, I had no idea who a lot of the statues were of but that did not take away from its sheer magnificence.
After Saint Peter’s, we went back to the Tiz, met up with Natalie and browsed the shops. We also got gelato (surprise, surprise!) from Giolitti’s. It was ______ (if you guessed awesome, you are correct). Almost immediately after that we went to a really good pizza place and ate again. I swear, after this trip I will either have to run 10 miles for a week or play Frisbee for about 4-5 days straight. No sleeping or eating, just Frisbee.

Tomorrow we are headed for Florence! Natalie tells me it is what she expected Rome would be like so we’ll see how it is. Everyone I’ve talked to loved it so it can’t be bad! Plus, David is there! I’m very excited.