The Adventures of Studying Abroad: Roma Roma Roma

Hello Friends,

Jacob and I have finally returned from our spring break trip to Italy and we had many adventures. Our spring break consisted of 3 cities; Rome, Pisa and Florence Italy.

March 16th, Edinburgh, Scotland and Rome, Italy.

The 16th was the day, it was our 3 year anniversary and the day we left for spring break. We had class that Wednesday so our flight was a late one. We didn't even leave until around 4:30 p.m. We flew KLM airlines and therefore we were allowed to check one piece of luggage each at no charge. So we checked one bag and packed both of our clothes in it. We bought a cheap suitcase so we wouldn't lose our good ones if anything did happen to our luggage. We flew from Edinburgh, Scotland to Amsterdam, Holland and arrived twenty minutes early which was nice because we didn't have much time to spare in between our flights. We got on our flight from Amsterdam to Rome and I bought a sandwich at the airport because I assumed that we wouldn't be fed on the flight since it was only 2 hours long. Right after I finished eating my premade sandwich, the stewardess comes around and hands out sandwiches. I tried this sandwich and I don't know what nasty sauce they put on it but it was disgusting! Then I was actually glad that I had purchased my own sandwich because eating the one they served on the plane would've been a real challenge for me.

We landed at 10 p.m. and waited for our luggage at the baggage claim. We waited and waited and waited, looking for a black and red suitcase with a green strap around it. Once the suitcases stopped coming on the table Jacob and I were getting nervous. The same 5 suitcases kept going around and around on the table none of which seemed to be ours. Finally part of the red on a suitcase caught my eye. It was ours, without the green strap to my disappointment. Looks like I will have to invest in a new one for my journey back to the United States in May. Wouldn't someone notice a lime green strap falling off of the suitcase? And how does a strap fall off of a suitcase anyways when it is strapped through the handles? I didn't know where my strap went and I decided that as long as we had our luggage and that the suitcase was intact, that the stupid strap didn't matter.

We had our luggage in hand and walked to the part of the airport where we could catch the train to the city center. Only one ticket dispenser was working and there were some people who spoke a different language using the machine and they couldn't figure it out. There was one train left to take so we just skipped buying the ticket and hopped on the train anyways. A guy came through to check tickets and thankfully he just let us pay the 28 euros for two tickets on the train. It was 11:30 p.m. by this time and we were supposed to take the metro to the hotel once we arrived at the train station but by that time at night the metro was closed. This left us one option: take a taxi. And that's where the terrible first night in Rome began.

We walked out of Rome's Termini Train Station looking for a taxi that would take us to Hotel Villa Tassoni which was across the city on the opposite side of the Vatican. This guy was being really pushy and was saying "Taxi, taxi, taxi" and he spoke English so Jacob jumped at the opportunity. Before I could come to my sensed Jacob was sitting in the taxi and had already given our luggage to this creepy man. We hopped into the car which was a huge mistake. First of all, there were 2 men in the front seat. Not one, but two. Since when did there need to be two people to drive the taxi? Last time I checked there was one steering wheel and one set of foot peddles! The taxi started going and I had given this guy the address to the hotel assuming that he knew where we were going. He hopped on his phone and started calling all these people asking where this hotel was. I started examining this so called "taxi" and noticed, no meter, no gps, two creepy men, and wait....we were in a black taxi. I remembered reading about how taxis in Rome were white, not black....white. Anyways, we made it to the hotel, after much praying, and we were greeted by the receptionist outside. Jacob and I hopped out of the taxi and the guy said "You owe me 55 euro". Man, that was a lot of money but when it was 12:30 in the morning we didn't much care. Jacob handed him a fifty in search for 5 euros worth of change. Jacob then turned to grab our suitcase and the guy said, "You only gave me 10 euro". Jacob searched his pockets and the car, obviously knowing that the only bill he had in his wallet was a 50 that must have been what he payed the driver. We figured that the man slipped the 50 euro bill in his pocket and pulled out a 10 claming that we only paid him that much. In the end I had to give the driver my 50 and the two creeps sped away in their little black fake taxi. They gained 100 euro off of us for a 10 minute taxi ride. That equals $140.00 with the exchange rate and we had only been in Rome for 3 hours. Holding back tears we checked into our hotel where the reception guy was more than helpful. He apologized for what happened to us and let us know that if we needed a taxi again that he new some that were reliable. We settled into our room which was spacious and then the water works started. I couldn't understand how someone could take advantage of two 19 year olds and feel good about themselves? I was so mad but Jacob thankfully reassured me that it was just money and that we were safe and that's all that mattered. Jacob and I decided that setting an alarm for the morning would not be a good idea.

March 17th, Rome, Italy

We woke up at 10:30 a.m. due to the lack of setting the alarm which got us off on a late foot. Our hotel was close enough to the Vatican that we walked there that morning and planned on seeing just that for the day. We saw the door to get in and there was not a single person outside. We thought this seemed odd because we heard of the enormous lines to get in. We walked right in, not having to wait a single minute and actually got a discount on admission since we had our International Student I.D. Cards. It cost us 16 euros for 2 tickets instead of 30 euros for 2. We basically got 2 for the price of one. This was for the Vatican Museum not including St. Peters Basillica (which we never did get to see.) The Vatican is something that is unexplainable unless you have been there already. The paintings, statues, jewels, fountains, just everything is breath taking and pictures and videos just don't do it justice. We spent about 2.5 hours there but could have easily spent more.

We got lunch across the street from the Vatican where I ordered spaghetti with tomato sauce and Jacob ordered lasanga. When they have on there menu spaghetti with tomato sauce, they literally mean dumping a can of tomato sauce upon noodles. Disgusting. We had a cheap dinner that night which consisted of jelly sandwiches and ramen noodles. (Our hotel room had a stove top). That nice we also had gelato for the first time which captured our hearts. Jacob had Lindt Mint and I had Frutti di Bosci and they both were amazing. Please prepare yourself for more gelato flavors in the upcoming blogs.

March 18th, Rome, Italy

We decided that booking an open bus hop on hop off tour would be the best way to see the sights in Rome without having to figure it our ourselves. This was probably mine and Jacob's best investment. It cost us each 25 euros for a 48 hour pass on the hop on hop off bus. That day we saw the Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, Vatican and the Colosseum. We saw other places too of which I cannot recall. We paid 12 euros each for a 2 day pass to the Colosseum which seemed a little to expensive in our eyes. The Colosseum was gorgeous on the inside and out but there wasn't much to do there which was kind of disappointing.

We ate some gross ham and cheese paninis that day at a restaurant that definitely were not worth our money. Also a guy tried to give me a "gift" aka a free fake designer wallet. I wanted to say "Yeah, a gift means you hand it to me and I pay you." Not happening that's for sure. I was disappointed in all of the sellers by the Vatican and other monuments. I felt like those should be treated with respect and not as a tourist hub to make money. Again we got gelato; Jacob got Nutella Cake and I got Strawberry and Mandarin. That night for dinner we decided to buy our own noodles, tortellini and bolognese sauce and make our own Italian meal. It was one of the best Italian meals we had our entire trip and we (mostly Jacob) made it ourselves! That night we sat and read our books we brought with and played 20 questions like an old couple :)

March 19th, Rome, Italy

We started out our day by getting gelato. Jacob got Millenium and I got Butterscotch and Lemon, not expecting it to be butterscotch since everything was in Italian. I ate the lemon and chucked the butterscotch. We then hopped on the tour bus and finished the stops that we hadn't seen the day before. We decided that we wanted to eat lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe which cost us an arm and a leg. $44 for each of us to eat. So $88 all together. We did get a souvenir cup out of the meal though so it was all worth it. Plus, in Scotland we can't find a decent hamburger to save our lives so the Hard Rock Cafe satisfied that. We finished up all of our souvenir shopping since we were leaving for Pisa, Italy the next day. That afternoon we got gelato again; this time I got Nutella Cake and Jacob got Villagettto Nutella. We ate the remaining spaghetti from the night before for dinner. We new that the next day we would be up early and on the train to Pisa.

(On a random note, I noticed in Rome the that stoplights are different shapes. The green light is shaped like a vertical rectangle, the yellow like a triangle, and the red like a horizontal rectangle. This must be for the people who are color blind. What a bright idea?)

And this will conclude Part 1 of Spring Break in Italy.