Nicole & I at dinner in Florence during her visit. :)
Then, last weekend, I had the privilege to see another friend from London (but this one is from Marist), Kailee. :) We made spur of the moment plans to meet in Rome. And yeah, it was super romantic.We met at the Trevi Fountain at midnight, made a wish that we'd be together forever, then went to the top of the Eiffel Tower under the moonlight...oh. WRONG CITY. Italy. France. Creepy men. It's all the same, right? But that didn't really happen. Because we like men...among other reasons.
Well, we spent our first day battling the least convenient public transportation system known to man after meeting at the train station (a lot less romantic than my imaginary story). It took us about an hour and a half to take a metro then trek to our hotel, which was really fancy, but sadly, not close at all to the city center (we got a deal for 38 Euro per night...when it's usually like 200. Score.). After dropping off our backpacks, we decided to continue our ongoing fight with public transportation and try to get to Vatican City. A bus ride, a wrong way metro ride, and the correct metro ride later, we made it. It was worth it, though. We were able to see St. Peter's Basilica, the balcony where the Pope addresses his people, and the humorously dressed guards in the early evening light. We went into the church, which was legitimately comparable to the Florence Cathedral on steroids and even witnessed some beautiful singing during a small mass in the very front of the apse (thank you, art history). After that, we headed off to the Trevi Fountain (for real this time) to make our wishes. It was stunning at night. The light was shining perfectly on the water, and it was just like you see in the movies (When in Rome & Lizzie McGuire, anyone?). Kailee and I made wishes with some 2 cent Euro coins (big spenders, obviously), took some cute pictures, then wandered off to get gelato. We then conquered public transportation once again. It took about 2 hours to find our way back to the hotel, but we did it. We then tried to use the jacuzzi and sauna (which were supposed to close at 11), but the sign failed to say that, of course, the hot tub turned off at 10:30 while everything else stayed open. Oh, Rome. You got us again.
In the morning, we enjoyed an included buffet breakfast before checking out then headed off with our backpacks strapped properly onto our backs, tourist-style, and then checked off the final items on our sight-seeing list. First, we went to the Spanish Steps. The many steps leading up to the simple, white, Spanish-style basilica surrounded by palm trees were much more beautiful than I'd anticipated. Once we climbed them, we got some amazing pictures of the city from above then sat in on a mass for about 15 minutes in the basilica, which I will always remember. After this, we hopped back on the metro and visited the Piazza da Repubblica where there was an incredible fountain, ate sundaes at a fancy McDonald's just for the hell of it, went inside a really cool Early Christian basilica randomly located in the square, and then we headed to everyone's number 1 sight to check off their Rome bucket-list...the Colosseum! It was pretty amazing to see in person, but since we didn't go inside, it was a tad bit anticlimactic. We spent the time enjoying the sights around the area, walking through some ruins, and taking lots of cheesy tourist photos with my friend, Kalani, who just happened to be in Rome for the weekend as well. He was kind enough to stick around later to take the train back with me, so before we all parted ways, we went to a cute little restaurant for dinner outside.
Fountain in the Piazza
Cheesey tourist Colosseum photos. :)
And this is where the title comes from. I had quite the spill. Apparently, on the sidewalk where our table was located, there was a slight slant that no one decided to tell me about. I bent over to grab something out of my backpack on the sidewalk next to my chair, and all of a sudden, things were in slow motion. It was one of those moments where you know it's happening, and you just can't stop it. Suddenly, my chair started leaning...I started leaning with it...and then we both clattered to the busy sidewalk in front of pedestrians and fellow dinner-eaters. I looked around to see how many people had seen it (everybody), picked up my chair, and sat down awkwardly. Then about 10 seconds later, I couldn't help but burst into laughter. Apparently, Kalani and Kailee saw it happening, could have stopped it, but wanted to see the magic that was 'The Fall.' Such good friends. It was hilarious, though. I'll give them that. I almost peed my pants after replaying the scene for the fifth time. So after my pride was thoroughly bruised, we said goodbye to Kailee before she headed back to London, and we caught our train back to Firenze.
I can't say I loved Rome, but I have to say, I loved that weekend. I'm so grateful to have been able to see Kailee and to have seen so many familiar faces in general over the last few weeks. It's making me miss home but truly appreciate my time here as well. I can't believe I only have 3 and a half weeks left of this amazing experience. I cannot wait to go home and reunite with my loved ones and enjoy the holidays, but it's difficult to fathom that this is all almost over. I'll be focusing on school the next few weeks, but I won't go one minute without being so thankful to have had this time in Europe. Keep an eye out for my next post chronicling the home stretch of my study abroad experience. Ciao!
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