Even getting to a western union was a pain in the ass. The woman at the reception of the hostel during the day is really nice and I decided to ask her, quickly, like a walking by thing, if she just so happened to know where the nearest one to the hostel was. Bad move. She said no, so I said oh never mind I'll find one, they seem to be all over the place. No no no, I'll look it up online. Alright, if you insist. After about 20 minutes of her not thinking things and trying to call random numbers from the internet she finds this one that is way not the way that I'm trying to go. I just said okay whatever man, thanks! But that wasn't enough either. she then went on to tell me where to get on and off the bus to get there. And then about how long it would all take, and finally not to get lost. And even before that she even got sassy with me when I said I was going to Il Gesu church. She was like "there are a million churches in this city and they are all for Jesus, I need the full name." But that is the full name...
I went to the one I knew was only 15 minutes away. This time there were two guys in there instead of two women. They were really nice and patient and it worked perfectly. It was actually really cool cause they were talking and one guy got on the phone and asked me if I wanted coffee. Of course I want coffee. A few minutes later this woman walks in with a tray of little cups covered in tin foil. They were espressos. So good. And free.
So after that I was calm again and walked around the Campo, took a few pictures, sampled lots of little things. I was alone too, so I could think and do whatever the hell I wanted. It was awesome. I wanted to go back to Piazza Navona to get a picture 'cause that's what I like to do--get local art from wherever I go. But then I get a text. What's my plan? I told them--Navona, Il Gesu, and then to eat somewhere. So, they said they would meet me at the church. Alright, that's fine, but give me time to get there. I was just wandering through the streets when she texts me again to say that they got me a picture from the Navona earlier. That was really nice. I felt guilty for being mean. But still, they wanted me to go straight to the church instead since I didn't really have another reason to go back to Navona. So okay...I'll head that way.
I went a kind of round about way though. I wanted to stay off of the main streets and I ended up in the Ghetto. Not the scary part of town, but the part where they kept the Jews. It was interesting. I'd have stayed and snooped around longer, but I knew they were going to start freaking out if I didn't show up soon. I did see a sign on a little cafe that said Anthony Bourdain ate there. It was closed, otherwise I'd have been all over it.
They beat me there. I found out later Dan-Dan was practically running because she thought there was a deadline or something. Il Gesu is amazing though. I think it might be my favorite. I can't commit though. It's really beautiful in there. And really silent. You aren't allowed to take pictures, but I didn't really want to anyway.
We left there and headed back toward the Campo because there was a specific restaurant they wanted to eat at. We were kind of wandering around again, but in a hurry because Kelsey really had to pee. That was annoying too. We passed by another big church and I wanted to go inside, so I did. There were Caravaggios in there. It was awesome. I don't know if you weren't supposed to take pictures, of if you just weren't supposed to use flash. It was funny though because it was all dark and then if you wanted to turn the lights on you had to put money in the offering box. Some other woman did it so I took three quick pictures and we had to run out again. We didn't find that place we wanted to try, but whatever. We ended up eating at the Campo de Fiori Restaurant. Kind of lame, but it was still good food.
We went back to the hostel after that to wait for Rachael to get back. She went to the Borghese and wandered. I really wanted to go the museum, and I definitely would have gone with her if I hadn't had money issues. But it's okay. I'll just have to go back someday. Maybe next semester even haha When she got there though we went out! There is a really small bar by our hostel. We'd gone there the second night and only had two drinks cause they got there late and they closed, but it was my turn to buy a round. Drinks are expensive. It was alright though. It only fair. The round didn't bother me, but the other 4 drinks after that were what bothered me. I shouldn't have had more than that first round, only because I was on a serious budget. But you know, it was fun and I got a few weird things I never heard of. An Alexander? I don't even remember what that is right now, but it was good. All the drinks I got both nights were super strong. I don't know what it was. Some were almost undrinkable. Almost. I got a mudslide and it was like you could see the alcohol wafting off of it. It was crazy. The other girls' weren't though. Whatever. Apparently I got my 6 euro worth on that one.
Sunday rolled around and we had to say goodbye to Rachael. I don't think I talked about her yet. She is from Vancouver Canada. She was a lot of fun--much more easy going than my company. The only thing that bothered me was that she felt like she was so much older and wiser than us because she was 23. Big deal. Lorena, the Peruvian girl we hung out with the whole time, I thought she was our age. One night at dinner we went around asking random shit and turns out she's 30. Not that 30 is old or whatever, but I was kind of shocked. Oh yeah that first dinner we all had together was awesome. It was this place off of the main street--the Via del Corso one--and our waiter was brilliant. He was really nice and really funny and really patient and he didn't care that we were a bunch of stupid American tourists. It was really good because we felt like we could ask him a million things about the menu and drinks and the city and he didn't care. Other waiters or random people act like they just don't want to talk to you and at a restaurant you should just know what you want and they want to have limited interaction with you. Whatever. It sounds weird written out like this, but he fake choked Lorena and I. There's one dessert that is hard to describe in English I guess, but the waiter spoke Spanish and was telling Lorena what it was and then he wanted her to tell us what it was in English. But she couldn't. So she got strangled. Kind of the same thing with me. I ordered Panacotta for dessert but I didn't know what it was. When he brought it out everyone was asking him what it was and he looked at me like to explain, but I told him, hey I don't know either I just wanted it. Strangled. It was a good time.
The last day was a little weird. I think we were all burned out and irritable. I was cranky anyway. We were supposed to get blessed by the Pope, but it turns out he was in Africa that weekend. Oh well. We didn't stay to see him on the big screens. We could watch that on youtube. We had our last pizza and gelato at the place by the hostel. Delicious.
"Sacred Area" where apparently Caesar was killed. I've heard a few things about that though...Dan-Dan said she was told it was at the theater of Pompeii. Okay there's one in that area that we went to and then there's another little piazza right next to the Campo de Fiori called the theater of Pompeo. So who knows. She thinks she's got the right one though, so whatever. The place we went to is now a cat sanctuary.
Mouth of Truth. That was a little weird.
There's this line you wait in to see the big stone face and then there's a guy sitting there who takes your picture for you with your camera. It's just weird because everyone in line behind you is watching you get this picture taken. The inside of the church wasn't that amazing actually. I think if you go downstairs into the underground part it's cool. But you had to pay and the other girls weren't into it, so we just left. I wasn't that heartbroken.Then we had about 4 hours to walk up to Termini station. We were all over the old part of the city again. Circo Massimo. Nice park. Walked around Palentine hill up to the wedding cake building again. Still grand. Then we walked down Via Alessandrina to go by all the different forums. Kelsey and I were in desperate need of coffee after that so stopped at a random place that had cafe in it's name. We also wanted tiramisu, but apparently at the time we went you could only order pasta. It was stupid. We got drinks though and bullshitted and complained for a little bit before moving on.
The Piazza della Republica wasn't as grand as they make it look on this cartoon-y map I have. One whole side is a hotel with a McDonald's. The station is about a minute away from that and since we were there Dan-Dan decided we should just take an earlier bus to the airport. Why not? I think I must have just been in a shitty mood because I was even getting angry at Kelsey because she kept bumping me in line. I started getting claustrophobic when our bus came though. Everyone just kind of mobbed the bus. People are rude. We all made it on though and I took a 30 minute nap.
Okay this airport experience sucked. Going through security! Dublin security is a joke. If you want to smuggle something onto a plane, fly from Dublin. I thought I took my knife out of my purse a long time ago. I hadn't even used it or thought about it for a few weeks. Apparently I had it with me the whole time. Dublin took my toothpaste, but they let me by with a 3 inch pocket knife. The Italians are smarter I guess. The guards were laughing at me actually. I went through and they took some of my liquids and then they put all my stuff back through the machine. I didn't know I had it though. The guy was laughing and asked me "do you have a knife??" I said no! All surprised and he just said "yes. A really big knife." Then I was confused even more because I didn't think that thing was "really big" status anyway. So then they took Paco and took everything out of and emptied everything onto this little table. It's kind of mortifying. The guy couldn't find it though. I didn't want him to start tearing my stuff apart like I was trying to hide it in the seems of my purse, so after a while I was like look man, there's a zipper right there. He took it and my boarding pass and went somewhere. I was freaking out a little bit when he took my boarding pass. I didn't want them to take me somewhere and ask me questions and I'd have to just be like, look it was an accident please believe me.
But nothing happened. He confiscated the knife--I'm sorry Padre--and let me go. I was in an even worse mood after that as I'm sure you peeps can imagine. I just wanted to get out of there really. I had no money, nobody I really knew, all my stuff had just been inventoried, and I was angry. I wouldn't have been too shocked if the plane crashed just to top it all off. The flight attendants were Irish. Never so happy to hear an Irish accent. Three hours later, perfect landing in Dublin. It was freezing and cloudy and sprinkling. The cab driver was super nice--the taxi driver I had when I first got here fucked me over. It was 10 less Euro this time. Bastard.
I got here, ate something cause I was starving and crashed.
Yesterday wasn't too interesting. Just going to class and doing nothing the rest of the day. Today has been more of the same. I don't have class until 3 on tuesdays so I got up late, made some potatoes for breakfast and here I am.
I called US bank again a little bit ago, and I can't transfer money directly out of my account with them into a foreign bank account. I have to go through Western Union again, so I have to wait for my new card to get home in the mail. Not a big deal to me. I have so much food right now I'm set. I even have meet frozen, so I'm set for a long while. The only thing that sucks is I owe Dan-Dan about 50 Euro and I'm going to need money for Madrid, but Dan-Dan can hold her horses, and Madrid is still two weeks away, so I'm not going to worry about it.
I do love Rome though, and I'd love to go back. I'll just be better prepared and play by the rules next time.
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