Italy :: Day 3 (Dec 18)

Last night did not involve much sleep. I was in bed ready to fall asleep, but the sangria party when on until much past midnight. Even though there is a sign in the hostel that says noise and drunkenness after 11 pm results in being kicked out of the hostel, not much was done to keep them quiet. One of the guys who worked at the hostel came in and apologized at one point, but my roommates kept coming in and out of the room, turning the light on, and leaving the door open. I’m not sure when I slept or how long I slept for, because they weren’t exactly quiet when they came back from partying either.

I got up at 7:30 as planned, and headed out around 8. I walked to the Ponte Vecchio, which is very close to the Uffizi galleries, and took some pictures. The morning was beautiful again like in Venice, and I got to enjoy the city while it still slept. I went to the Uffizi galleries at 8:15, and was inside around 8:25. I got to see the David (I even snuck a picture) and the Birth of Venus, and those two were the works that I was told were must-sees. I walked through every room in the galleries that was open, though I didn’t spend much time in some of the painting rooms because the artwork was very similar to things I had seen at the Prado and Reina Sofia. Overall I enjoyed the galleries, mostly the sculpture sections. There was a cool exhibit about the Medici family, who contracted the Uffizi buildings, and the main architect/artist involved in the design. It was a nice end to my stay in Florence. Afterwards, I ate my apple as I walked back to my hostel and collected my belongings. The walk back to the train station went much better than the walk to the station, as always, and I still have 40 minutes before my train gets here. I am excited for Rome, especially the Vatican.

Finding my hostel in Rome was the easiest of all my hostels. It is the closest to the train station, and I found a very direct and simple route to get there. I checked in and left my baggage behind and headed out with map in hand (free this time). I ended up eating McDonalds for lunch, which wasn’t my original plan. I just wanted to go inside and see what the “Italian” sandwich was. But then it looked really good, and I was pretty hungry, so I ordered the CBO (chicken bacon onion) sandwich. It was actually pretty good, though I wasn’t a fan of the cheese that they chose. I did come to a realization that here in Europe, or at least in Italy, they charge for ketchup. They ask you if you would like ketchup or mayonnaise with your French fries, and then they charge you 20 cents. Not that bad, but it explained why I didn’t have the right change out at the BK in Milan.  After lunch I set out towards the Colosseum. Just as I got there, it started to rain, but luckily I carry my umbrella with me everywhere. I walked around the entire thing before I found the ticket booth, which was where I had started. I decided to get a guided tour for an extra 5 euros, because my friend Robyn had told me that it is way cooler when you actually understand what you are looking at. All I could think of the whole time was about the movie Gladiator. It was an amazing site to see though. My guide said that what remains is only 25% of the original structure, and much of it has been restored or reconstructed recently. She talked about the two types of shows that they had there, and how it was open to the common people for free, on average about once every three days. I didn’t get a chance to go to the Forum, though it is on the same ticket as the Colosseum, but I am planning to go tomorrow after the Vatican.

After the Colosseum, I walked to the Pantheon. By the time I got there, the sun was almost down, but it was lit up inside. There aren’t too many labels inside, and I didn’t want to get an audioguide, so I need to do some research to fully understand everything that I saw. It was still beautiful architecture and art, and the hole in the center of the ceiling was awesome to look up at. From the Pantheon, I walked to the Piazza Navone and the Campo di Fiori, two centers of Roman life past and present. Since it was dark at this point, it was difficult to see, but both were bustling with life. From the Campo di Fiori, I headed to the Trevi fountain. I was going to leave it until tomorrow, but I figured I could just see it twice if I had time, once during the day and once at night. It was beautiful, all lit up and surprisingly loud. I met a very nice girl and her mom from San Diego, and we took pictures for each other. They were quite surprised that I am traveling on my own, and we are going to try to meet up tomorrow at the Vatican. After I made my wish and tossed my coin into the fountain, I started back towards my hostel. I got a little lost because of an emblem on my map that blocks some streets, but I found my way and got back around 7. There was a bit of a mix up with another person’s bed, but since I was the last to arrive in the room, I moved to the next room over. No problem, I didn’t really mind. Though I am now in an empty room because the other people have not arrived yet. I think I will go out and get pizza tonight, but I haven’t decided yet.

I did end up getting pizza. Potato pizza. Similar to the French fries pizza I had in Venice, but much better. It had thin slices of potato on top of thick slices of cheese and lots of herbs. It was delicious, and piping hot. I had it at a little bar around the corner from my hostel. I was going to go adventuring a bit, but it was cold and I was hungry, so I ended up somewhere nearby. It’s another generally early night, since I have my Vatican appointment at 9 am tomorrow morning.

Reflection::

Since I am traveling, I decided today would be a reflection on my travels this semester. Besides this trip to Italy, all of my trips were within Spain (and Morocco). I didn’t leave the country like most of my fellow USACers, but I tried to visit all of the important Spanish cities. I know I will be back in Europe, and I wanted to take advantage of living in Madrid and being just a bus ride away from all of the great history of Spain. In total, I stayed the night in 7 Spanish cities, and in addition visited 8 more (I think those counts are right). In my guidebooks, I completed almost every important activity in Spain that it’s possible to complete.

I am satisfied with my travels. I got to see the country that I lived in, and practice my Spanish as much as possible, since that was one of my main reasons for studying abroad. I enjoyed almost all of the hostels/hotels I stayed in, and had pretty good traveling partners as well. By the end of the semester, it was difficult to travel with the same people because you sort of get sick of them. But I did luck out and never traveled with anyone who snored, or wanted to party really late at night when we had early plans. I personally prefer to sightsee when I travel, rather than go out at night, so it was nice to have others who shared my preference.

I also got to spend a lot of time in Madrid. Though traveling was definitely a priority, I got to know the city I lived in and experience its culture. That is something a lot of people in my program probably can’t say, unless you are referring to the nightlife. So some of my traveling was also throughout the city of Madrid, and being a tourist in my own city.