THIS HUGE PARAGRAPH IS WORTH A READ: The journey continued from Cinque Terre to Florence. However, as transportation has proven faulty in Europe, the journey was anything but smooth. First, Kyle and I were forced to wait in the Genoa train terminal for two hours for our midnight train (shout out to Journey) to Firenze. To pass the time we pulled the "homeless" look at played many a round of cards on the dirty floors of the terminal. On the train our seats were in separate cars but, no worries, we met a nice Italian couple who not only secured us two spots in their car but also became Mother Theresa and Ghandi as terms of generosity that night. After attempting to teach us some basic Italian, they allowed us to use their phones to find hostels in Florence, kicked other people out of the car so we could stay, carried our bags for us, and awoke us at our transfer stop, Pisa. Naturally, we exchanged Whatsapp information to keep in touch, both knowing there was no chance we would ever see each other again. But, smart move on my part because a day later I received this easily comprehendible message from Antonio: "Good morning as the tour proceeds them in Florence? I hope all is well when matches for roma? I am traveling to Turin sorry a lot riuscirti not to review a kiss anyway you look at Torino ;-))" Who knows? When we got to Pisa we were surprised by a 2 hour unanticipated layover. After walking past the plethora of homeless scary Italian men sleeping in the terminal Kyle and I decided it would not be wise to stay there. Instead, we wandered around Pisa and found a five stay hostel with a deskman who was nice enough to let us sleep on the couches in the lobby and watch zombie movies.. The journey gets more interesting, I promise. When we arrived in Florence at around 5:45 in the morning we found ourselves completely homeless, wandering around (again, this is vacation weekend in Florence) unable to find any hostel to stay in. We walked for around 1.5 hours with our luggage, through the sunrise only to find ourselves sitting at a cafe eating bocadillos ready to take a strange Italian man up on his offer to stay in his guest bed. An emergency call was then made to Kyle's mother in the United States who booked him a 200$ a night hotel (legit the only availability in all the city). Let's just say it was probably the most frustrating 12 hours of my European experience but, looking back on it, the cards, Italian friends, zombie movies, and creepy guest room offer comprise one of my favorite stories of second semester.
After seeing the David (which is friggin enormous, btw), the Duomo, and eating amazing pasta, Kyle and I napped until 10:30PM (we had not slept in over a day). After awaking, we met up with my friend Nikki (who I have known since I was 2) for Notte Bianca which is a huge celebration around the streets. There was live jazz, hip hop, cultural, etc. music everywhere and Italians in costumes roaming until the wee hours of the night. The next day it was pouring outside so Kyle and I ate huge Donor Kebabs and played cards in a cafe until the weather let up. We then met up with Maxine, Caroline Garel Jones, and Nikki for some food and drinks. That night, Kyle and I went to the Ponte Veccio and ate a final dinner in Florence. I had four cheese risotto topped with pears which may have been the best pasta I ate in Italy.
Illegal Photo of David... Woops.
Ponte Veccio
Bomb Risotto
Duomo during Notte Bianca
The following morning Kyle and I made our way to Rome where we were met by amazing weather and the majority of our BC in Madrid crew. Fanta, Kyle, and I went our to lunch and ate amazinggggg lasagna (the food in Italy is not real life.. it's not a stereotype... its reality). Afterwards we went to the Colosseum and met up with Maxine, Bathleen, Slay-Tay, Quiño, and Kevin. The Colosseum was absolutely incredible. We learned that 1 million men and 3 million animals had died inside and that during the ancient games, lions and other large animals were kept under the sand and when trapped doors were opened they would appear through the sand as a complete shock to the gladiators. After the Colosseum Fanta, Kyle and I cooked pasta in the apartment before meeting up with everyone for some karaoke.
Colosseum
The next day the three of us went to the Spanish steps and then met up with the others for some Vatican City action. Due to our inappropriate outfits, Maxine and I had to use scarfs as skirts to enter St. Peter's Basilica which apparently is one of the seven wonders of the world. Later we hit up the Pantheon and the Trevi Fountain before eating one last Roman meal. That night we would be meeting up with Bus2Alps for our weekend trip to the Amalfi Coast!
Sexy Vatican Outfits
The Beanz and I @ Trevi Fountain
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