Italia - Florence/Rome

1/12/12
We arrived in Rome in the morning and headed right to the train station to go to Florence. We had 6 days in Italy, so we figured we would use some of the days in Florence. Quick grabbed a cappuccino and it tasted like 'burnt' according to Charlie; it definitely did the trick after a night with little sleep. The views from the train were spectacular so I stayed awake and watched the countryside pass us by. We got into Florence fairly quickly and searched for or hostel. The hostel didn't have a big sign - it was literally just a tiny name next to the doorbell, so it took us two or three laps around the block, but we found it. We were all hungry so we got coffee and pizza on our way to the David.

We got to the David, and when we entered the museum it was stunning. We almost didn't even see the other statues on the way to the David. His pose and facial expression is amazing when you think about what he had just accomplished (Goliath - I didn't know this before for some reason...). By the time we were outside it was dark so we decided to get some Gelato and wine and head to the hostel before getting dinner. We had some wine and cheese and headed out for 'apertivos', but when we got the place the was suggested, it was a sushi place...they only had apertivos on Wednesdays. Somehow the guy convinced us to stay so we had overpriced sushi and wine for dinner. We stopped at a market on the way back to the hostel and got chocolate covered bananas and strawberries; it was an awesome little market!

2/12/12
The next morning we got up and headed to the bridge with all the shops (I forget the name but it's well known), and stopped for a bite at 'self-service' for panini - we had about 2-3 panini a day. We headed to  the Giardino di Boboli - it was a MASSIVE park with cool trees and walkways with a ton of sculptures. We hiked to the top of it where there were amazing views of the city as well. We took a lot of pictures of the group (Charlie, Kelly, Amira, Marione [Charlie's French roommates]). We headed to Duomo, a cool church that looked like it had textiles on the outside.
In order to make it to Rome in time for Charlie to meet his girlfriend, we hopped back on the train. We got there and met with Kaitlyn for dinner; the dinner was 3 euro pizza's and great cheap wine. Kaitlyn then took us out for chocolate shots (chocolate shot 'glass', bailey's, chocolate sauce, whipped cream) before heading to Scholar's Lounge for Karaoke (it happened to be an Irish Pub...who woulda thought??). It was pouring...literally POURING rain, so we went to the pub early. The beers were 6 euro, even for a cheap beer, so we started taking Jaeger bombs, they were 6 euro too. Kelly and I ended up singing 'I want it that way' and 'Almost', two great songs. We made the trek back home for the night since we had a big day ahead of us. On the way back we saw the Trevi Fountain lit up; we were lucky that no one was there so we had the fountain all to ourselves! It was pretty neat.

3/12/12
We woke up and went straight to the Colosseum and Roman Forum. We were tipped off to go to the Forum first since the ticket is valid for both places, and most people wait in a long line at the Colosseum. We got an audio tour, but got lost and didn't know exactly what buildings/pillars they were talking about, so we just walked around and soaked it all in. It was an amazing thing to see! When we got to the Colosseum we took a bunch of pictures; luckily we had amazing weather all day this day and the pictures all turned out amazing.
We were carrying our bags this day since we were changing hostels, so we decided to go to the Yellow Hostel (our hostel the next 3 nights) and put our bags in our room. Turned out that our hostel was a 9 person apartment style room. It had two bathrooms, two separate bedrooms (2 beds and 3 beds in each), and 4 beds in the main room. It also had a fully functioning kitchen inside of it. It was awesomeeeeeeee - best hostel I have ever stayed in. We took quick naps and had dinner while waiting for the other girls to join us. We started sipping wine until they showed up, then they decided they didn't want to go out. We ended up going downstairs and just checking out the basement party, which sounded like a rager, and it turned out to be a typical college basement party. It was a lot of fun, but it was scumy, with a lot of sketchy dudes, and people smoking cigarettes. It was a good time, but we didn't go back to it while we were staying at the hostel. We went to bed somewhat early this night as well (midnightish?)

4/12/12
We woke up and had a big day ahead of us. Since we met up with the new crew, we went to the Trevi Fountain and made our wishes. Then off to the Pantheon; this was a quick visit but it's an awesome building. Some of our friends got caught by the tourist trap of taking pictures with the 'Spartans that were just being nice to them', and ended up paying. Classic. Anywho, we went to the Spanish Steps, and onto the Villa Borgese. Kevin suggested that we get bikes and bike around the park for awhile; this may have been my highlight of the trip! Charlie and I got a two person car-bike, and did doughnuts around a vacant lot. We both took videos doing doughnuts separately and I flipped the car :O! It was hilarious! Ask me for the video and hopefully I'll be able to show you...my computer isn't letting me get it off my camera as of right now. Anyways, it started raining when we finished that, so we headed back and grabbed more Gelato on the way (Charlie and I got two larges...woops).
We took quick naps and headed off to meet the Creighton girls Sorority sisters for a dinner at Carlo Menta - Kel and I ordered the best pasta in the world; it was their house pasta sauce on penne. We decided to split a second one, but it never came, so we just ordered another bottle of wine. To kill some time before going to Scholar's again with Kaitlyn, we went to a wine bar where all the girls started crying about how happy/sad they were, I don't really know it was weird and Charlie wasn't there to do guy things with me. Then we went to Scholars for more singing and met some funny Italians. I had to remind Kelly of the movie 'Taken' a couple times, but everything turned out well. We started walking home the wrong way for about 30 minutes, but ended up finding food and ended up going the right way and made it home. Great night, slept very well.

5/12/12
Quick morning wake up we decided to get blessed by the Pope, and Kelly got pickpocketed on the metro on the way there; it was weird how packed it was and she didn't even notice it happened until later. We ran around St. Peter's square looking for the Pope, and made it about 5 minutes before it started. It was an awesome experience. We met up with another group of girls (yes, more girls...) and had lunch before walking through the Vatican Museum. We were all fairly tired after so we got crepes and had cheese sandwiches and fruit and wine for dinner and just had a couple drinks at the bar downstairs, not the basement party bar.

6/12/12
The Creighton girls went to the Colosseum this day, so we (Charlie, Kelly, Amira, Marione) hung out in a piazza in the sun for an hour or so, then I met up with Enrico, a guy Kevin tutored when he was in Rome studying abroad. We had lunch and he brought me to an amazing view of Rome before heading off to the airport. Kelly and I had a miscommunication and I almost missed the last bus to the airport...but I made it as the bus was pulling away! Thanks god. We got on the plane and took the bus home at 4am on Friday! Amazing trip, definitely would go back to Florence! Rome seemed very touristy to me, but I still loved it! Last trip is coming up these next couple days before a final exam and then heading home! Wish me luck!

Slán