That's amore... Fall Break Italy Trip, Florence and Rome

I think it's safe to say my friends got pretty sick of me singing this song to them leading up to/ during/ after our trip to Italy this fall break...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHtdGJfVd2w

I think they also got sick of me saying "When in Rome..." every fifteen minutes. But when ever again will have such a meaning for me? When in Rome, say when in Rome.

What an amazing five days! I've always wanted to go to Italy and I am so lucky to have finally had the chance. It started with a very early morning on Thursday the 31st.

Ryan Air-- completely disorganized and a total free-for-all, but worth the bargain and mad dash. 

We flew into Rome, then took a bus to the train station to start on our way to Florence. Unfortunately, the bus filled up and two of us had to stay behind and wait for the next one, which was scary because it meant we had no means of communicating, since our Spanish phones were turned off to avoid outrageous roaming charges. Fortunately, at the last second we found our friends on the train to Florence.

We got to Florence and started to explore the city. So much to see, despite its small size. It rained a little, but was beautiful nonetheless.

Florencia

Apparently Italia is known for their leather-- a few of my friends got some awesome leather jackets!
This is a street lined with vendors. 

View from the river, and one of the most famous bridges of Florence.

Always love to see a bride and groom!

Some statues we stumbled upon.

The Duomo-- probably the most beautiful church I have ever seen. Unfortunately, we couldn't enter while we were there because it was a religious holiday, All Saint's Day. 

We went out Thursday night with some friends of ours from Seville, that are in another study abroad program-- one of which has a friend studying in Florence. The dinner in Florence was my favorite by far of the trip. Classic spaghetti and red sauce, unlimited wine, and some perfectly-made bread-- YUM! After, we went to a bar. I have to say, the Italian men were very aggressive, and I did not feel comfortable at all being there. We left shortly after, and I think what I liked the most in Florence was the secret bakery we found. They don't open until 2:00AM, because they are technically not allowed to sell retail. The wholesale bakeries that supply to the others open late at night, unmarked, and you just have to find them by word of mouth/ smelling your way there. For one euro each, we got delicious croissants. Definitely an adventure trying to communicate with Italians to find it.

The secret bakery! What an accomplishment.

After a very long day of travel, we hit the hay.

Friday: In the morning, we went to a museum which has the statue of David by Michelangelo. Left me speechless. There are also his unfinished works, which were cool to see. We got gelato and pizza throughout the day, too.

We went later up to a mountaintop by bus to have a view of the sunset. It was beautiful! Unfortunately/ kind of fortunately we had a very interesting incident on the bus back. Not knowing that we had to stamp our tickets, we were interrogated by the bus authority, and then followed by him of the bus-- which led to us running from the Florence bus authority. What a rush! It was actually scary at the time though-- he took down my friend's passport information and began making calls, and stopped talking to us in English. I guessed we learned our lesson-- make sure you know what you're doing on public transportation. Or don't if you want a good story.

That night we took the train back to Rome. As a little girl, I always dreamed of coming to see the Roman ruins, and I still can't completely believe I did. Saturday, we spent all day at the Vatican. We paid for a guided tour, which was completely worth the money because we could skip the hours-long-wait of a line. Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel was amazing to see in person. We saw the tomb of Pope John Paul II, climbed St. Peter's Basilica, you name it. Luckily, the rain held out until the end of the day. I learned so much too, like... the Vatican is its own country, it is the smallest country in the world, it is the only country in the world to use Latin, it uses its own money system, and has an army of exactly 100 Swiss men. So beautiful and historic, especially for a Catholic.

The Vatican!

Museum

At the top of St. Peter's Basilica

Saturday night we met with some girls from Saint Mary's college, that go to school with a lot of girls in my program. They brought us to an "all-you-can-eat" kinda place. Not as authentic as the first place, but so much fun and lots of food, nonetheless. After, we went to an Irish Pub named Scholar's Lounge. That was one of the most fun nights I've had out in a long time. When in Rome, right? We didn't get back until 5:30 in the morning, but it was completely worth it. Besides, that's what coffee is for.

Sunday: We saw all the other major touristy sights of Rome: Colosseum, Pantheon, Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Trevi Fountain, Spanish steps:

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

Colosseum. I didn't know until I was inside the Colosseum that it had been stripped for marble for
the construction of St. Peter's Basilica. Which makes me think... it would be in even better condition today if it hadn't been intentionally picked at. It really is one of the most tragic places I have ever seen. Some of the lowest points in human history-- here to remember forever-- almost inescapable. 

It was funny to see the people dressed as gladiators in the streets of Rome,
but a little surreal to know that I stood where who-knows-how-many thousands of others have stood to watch human-on-human fights to the death, for the sole purpose of entertainment. 

Chessin'

Arc of Constantine

The Roman Forum

Pantheon

By some miracle of God, but not without feet so overworked they became numb, we made it everywhere we wanted to go in Rome. We even had time to stop in a little bakery for a genuine Italian cannoli and tart:

Before dinner, we went to the Trevi Fountain. SO. BEAUTIFUL. And not what I was expecting. The tradition, according to one of my friends, is to toss two pennies, right hand over left shoulder: one for a wish, and one to return to Rome soon. Keeping my fingers crossed for that one.

Love locks <3 

 My trip ended with an awesome surprise... that one of my sorority sisters from Lehigh University, who is studying abroad in Switzerland this semester, happened to be visiting Rome the very same weekend. I met her at Scholar's Lounge (second night in a row-- highly recommend that place to anyone visiting Rome!) for karaoke night, right up my alley. Nothing like a familiar face and catching up with a good old friend.

Me and Carolyn, jamming out. We rocked it so well with "Ain't No Mountain High Enough"
and "Seasons of Love" that the DJ made us do an encore!

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See you soon, Italy-- I'll be back to pick up the heart that I seem to have left with you.