Day 1:
On Friday I left for my flight to Rome. I went with four other girls from my program. I took the train to Gatwick airport and was ready to board our plane at 3:05! My flight actually got in 30 minutes early to Rome, which was nice! We took a shuttle straight to the Alessandro Downtown Hostel. The hostel was pretty nice. The people were very friendly and most of the people staying there were our age. We stayed in a bedroom that was for 6 people so one person in the room was a random person we had never met. The person ended up being good though! He was from Sicily, Italy and had studied in Florence for his undergraduate so we were able to ask him questions about what we should do in Florence. After we got settled into our room we left to find some pasta! We ate at a cute little Italian restaurant and I had lasagna and a glass of red wine. The rest of the night we planned what we were going to do with our time in Rome.
Day 2:
Our first day out exploring Rome was fun! We got up early and got ready for the day and then bought tickets for a bus tour around Rome. The bus was a hop on and off as you please tour so we got to get off and see whatever we wanted to! The weather was gorgeous in Rome! Sunny and warm! I was able to just wear a sweater around and I was even getting a little hot! The first place we saw on the bus tour is known as the wedding cake building. This was the National Museum and resembles a white wedding cake. Our next stop was the Colosseum! I think I took about 100 photos of the Colosseum or more! We got off here and explored! I also saw Constantine's Arch, which is right outside the Colosseum. This is the original arch that everyone copies, including Paris' Arc de Triomphe. We toured the inside of the Colosseum and spend some time looking around at the Colosseum. From there we toured the Roman Forum. Only 5 % of tourist ever make it here. It was really cool to see. We saw the remains of places like Julius Caesar's palace and some old chariot racing stadiums. Rome is trying to build a new underground metro line, but every time they dig in the ground they find new ruins and have to stop. The Roman Forum was really cool and I am glad that I decided to go with the girls, because it was very unique! Our next stop was the Spanish Steps! The girls didn't want to walk up them, but I walked to the top! The place was packed with people! After that we went to the Trevi Fountain! I loved the Trevi Fountain and I think it was one of my favorite places in Rome to visit. I just liked to sit by it and eat gelato!
Day 3:
I decided to get up at 6:15 to go to mass at the Vatican with one other girl who was also Catholic. We had to get there really early, because we heard that it gets really crowded if you don't. We took the metro, which cost us one euro to get there. We had to go through security to get into Saint Peter's Square. We were just planning on going to one of the masses in one of the chapels, but apparently this Sunday was the ordination of some new Cardinals. This meant that the Pope would be giving the mass! The mass we were planning on going to was not going to be given by the Pope. I am not even sure if he gives one to the public every Sunday. We saw a bunch of people with yellow pieces of paper going into the Basilica and we wanted to be able to get in. We asked some of the guards where we could get the yellow pieces of paper to go in. However, they misled us and after searching for the place to get the paper we realized we didn't even need one! By the time we got back up into the line the basilica was full! There was a sitting area with chairs blocked off and one of the guards let us sit in there for mass. We had to wait for awhile, because mass didn't start until 9:30. It was nice sitting outside in the sun though. They had two huge TV screens so we could see what was going on the whole time. Mass lasted from 9:30 to 11:30. It was so awesome though! Each part of the mass was said in a different language- a lot in Italian and Latin, some in Chinese, some in English, and some in Spanish. Unfortunately when the priests came outside to give us communion they ran out! There were about 10 people ahead of me when they ran out. That was kinda disappointing, but at least I get to say that I went to mass with the Pope! The Pope also comes out to a window at noon to give a blessing so we stuck around for that and then headed out. After that we met up with the other girls for lunch and got some pizza. They decided to go shopping and one other girl and me decided to explore the city some more. We walked to one of the cities parks, to the Piazza Naviana, and the Pantheon. Jordan wanted to eat dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe, because she was tired of pasta and pizza so we went there for dinner. I was too excited about going, because I feel like I can eat there any time I want to at home and it is pretty expensive! My meal was good though! That night we got a new roommate in our room from Australia.
Day 4:
I slept in until about 10 on Monday. We all got ready and went out to get lunch. After that I went back to the Vatican with Jordan to tour the Vatican Museums and the Basilica. When we got there the line was pretty long. There were a lot of tour guides trying to get us to take tours with them. They were all telling us that the line was 2 hours long and that we would get the student discount of 35 euros (14 for our ticket in) to go on a guided tour. I was glad we ignored them! They were all very pushy and would not leave us alone though. We ended up waiting in line30 minutes and I got my ticket for 8 euros! It was so crowded inside it would have been hard to go on a tour anyways because you couldn't hear. I saw a lot inside! I felt like it was all of the museum's that I have visited this semester so far put into one. Everything was so beautiful though! I got to see the Sistine Chapel, the room of statues, the rooms of maps, and so much more! After being in the museum and looking at everything for awhile I went back out to Saint Peter's Square and went inside the Basilica. It was beautiful! Everything was so huge! I will have to post pictures of it from online because my description won't do it justice. After this I went to grab a pizza with Jordan and then we met up with the other girls. We went back to the Trevi Fountain to get geltao. I had chocolate chip this time. We decided to do a pub crawl that night so we went back to the Spanish steps where we were suppose to meet. We ended up meeting a bunch of people that were from London. We went all the way to Rome to meet Londoners! They were following the Chelsea football team that played in Naples the next day. We hung out with them for most of the night.
Day 5: On Tuesday we checked out of our hostel and went to the train station to head to Florence. We had awhile before our train left so we went to McDonald's to get some lunch. We randomly ran into the Chelsea fans from the Pub the night before. It was really funny! We talked with them some more until we had to get on our train. I went to go to the bathroom in the train station before we left and it cost me one euro! The train ride was about an hour and a half. Florence was beautiful! Once we got off the train it took us about 10 minutes to walk to our hostel. We had to ask an old man on the side of the rode how to get there. He didn't really speak English, but he walked us all the way to the hostel and then left. This hostel was a lot nicer than our other one! It almost seemed like a hotel! Only it cost 15 euro a night! We met up with another girl in our program, Krista, who had been traveling by herself. She was in Florence for the night. She walked us to one of the main squares and we ate dinner. I had penne pasta. After dinner we went to go see the famous David Statue in a museum. It was huge! After that we went to get geltao and I had cookies and fudge. It was pretty good!
Day 6:
The next day in Florence was a good one! We got up early and did a bus tour. We decided to do a bus tour because our friend, Krista suggested that we do it. The bus took you to a town that was right outside of Florence called Fiesole which is on top of a mountain and overlooks the city. The bus ride up to it was amazing! Florence is defiantly the Italy that you would see in the movies. Once we got to the top of the mountain the bus stopped for 30 minutes. We ran over to some spot next to someones house and got to see the view of they city. It was so pretty! The next spot on our bus stopped at an overlook that was closer to the city by the river. Then, we stopped at a famous bridge in Florence. It was a lot of stores on it which pretty much only sell jewelry. Finally we went to the city center to view the cathedral and bell tower. I decided to go up the bell tower to get another view of the city. Once the other girls I was with found out there wasn't a lift at the bell tower and you have to walk up the stairs they decided not to go. So I went up by myself. They decided to take an hour train ride to Pisa to see the leaning tower. I decided to just stay in Florence and go up the bell tower, because I felt like I still hadn't seen all of Florence yet and it was getting dark. After I spent some time in the tower I went to the square and bought a small painting.
Day 7:
I woke up early to catch my 9:25 train to Venice. It was about a two hour ride to get there. From there I had to get on a water boat to get to my hostel. Curtis was coming out to Venice for the weekend. We were going to meet at the hostel. I got there first and I ended up getting to the hostel before check in which I didn't know.The people there were very, very nice though! Probably the most friendliest people I have met since I have been here. Curtis eventually got there and we went out to grab something to eat. I had ravioli and he had a calzone. We also shared burshetta. From there we just started walking around and wondering. We stopped in a lot of stores. Venice is known for it's Murano blown glass. It was all so pretty. We went in to so many stores to look at it all! We also made it to San Marco Square.
Day 8:
On Friday we had breakfast at our hostel. It was very good! We went to ask the man who owned the hostel what we should do for the day and how to get there. He gave us some good tips and he also told us how to get a cheaper gondola ride. The first thing we did was go on the gondola ride. It was in the morning and it was very pretty! We took a 30 minute ride around one of the smaller canals. Our gondola man was very nice! We tried to tip him at the end but he refused to accept it! After that we went back to San Marco Square and we walked along the bank for awhile. The sun was out and it was very warm! We sat out on a bench overlooking the sea for awhile. We also so the Sigh Bridge. We then ate lunch at a place by the water. We both had very good pizzas! Then, we went to one of the water boats and took it out to one of the islands, Murano. We mostly just walked around and looked at some very expensive glass! When we got back we went looking for another famous bridge. We ran into a family from America and the dad graduate from Notre Dame so that was kinda cool! We found the bridge right around sunset! It was very pretty! We grabbed some dinner and went to bed early because we had to gt up early to take the water boat to the airport in the morning! It was the best Spring Break I've ever had!
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