Let's start off with Thursday. I started off the day at 9AM interviewing tourists for my Sustainable Tourism class. I was actually very excited for this and it did not disappoint. We were split into groups of 2 and sent to different tourist areas of Florence. My partner, Alexis, and I were assigned to San Lorenzo market and the special project of exploring the the tourist offices of Florence. We set out to the first tourist office to ask if they had any brochures on sustainable tourism. Nope. He said the website might, and it did. But he couldn't recommend any places that focus on sustainability and didn't have a map of the public water fountains (one of Italy's great features is providing free tap water to the public). He did however have a very outdated brochure to give us. He also gave us a number to his bosses that could help. It looks like we are meeting with them this week to further discuss. Our professor came to the conclusion that they have sustainable information, but they just don't realize it. Many of the hotels and shopped are locally owned and rather eco-friendly, but it is just so common here they don't realize that they are living sustainably. The second tourist office was very busy and not quite as nice. The man actually told us that he didn't have time to talk to us and to tell our teacher "he is not playing games today". We brushed that rudeness off and headed to talk to tourists. Our first attempt was a group of Canadian women on vacation through Tuscany. They were thrilled to answer our questions and a delight to talk to. We interviewed a variety of travelers mostly British, Canadian, and American. We came to the conclusion that most people prefer comfort, but choose to be sustainable if it is convenient for them. My day ended with a typical night out. This time to the ever so American pub, The Lion's Fountain. We met a few American guys that were in town for their friends wedding. We gave them an unexpected tour of Florence where we led them to Twice, one of the disqoteches. I love that I finally actually know the city well enough to show people around! It also helped that in return they paid for all of our drinks. I like to think they were just being nice, but it's probably because he kept saying the money looked like Monoploy money and he didn't realizing how much he was spending.
Friday, Sarah and I took advantage of one of our school's day trips. This time we went to a vineyard in the outskirts of Florence. Absolutely adorable place! Pictures will be all over my facebook. We had wine tasting there, a cake made with olive oil, and lots of cheeses!
ROME!
Megan, Sarah, and I got up early to catch our 6:30 AM train to Rome.We chose such an early train so we could spend all of Saturday exploring Rome, and it was slightly cheaper. Not to worry, because it turned out to be an overnight train coming from Austria. We got in our cart and slept till Rome. On a side note: this was very similar to the Happy Potter train to Hogwarts. I kept waiting for the food trolley to come by so I could get some chocolate frogs! We got to Rome, bought a map, and headed straight to the Colosseum. We didn't really have a game plan for the trip, just a short bucket list including the Colosseum, Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, Vatican City,Capuchin crypt, and the Roman Mcdonalds, as featured on the Travel Channel. We found a cute little cafe for our morning cappuccino and developed a game plan. Somehow I became the keeper of the map and official navigator and we did not get lost once. I cannot even express how proud I am. I have awful sense of direction and usually get lost. But looks like I'm doing some self improvement abroad! We made our way to the Colosseum and were immediately in awe. We sprung 25 euro for a guided tour and skipping the line that would have taken a hour. So worth it. Our guide was really good and I learned so much. Our tour guide is the reason for my title. At the end of the tour an older man thanked him for the tour and complimented him "you must have been a gladiator in a past life". It took some self control not to laugh out loud. Our tour guide was rather muscular, but even though he spoke perfect English there is a language barrier when it comes to certain jokes. Back to the point, The history of the Colosseum is crazy! We learned about the structure and what it was all used for. The Colosseum was used for gladiatorial contests and public spectacles such as mock sea battles, animal hunts, executions, re-enactments or famous battle, and dramas based on classical mythology. I was soaking up the history all around. Actually being in the Colosseum while learning about it was incredible. On top of that, the tour included a guide through the Roman Forum. I knew very little about this, but it was one of the best history lessons I have ever gotten. We learned about the beginning of Rome and the two brothers, Romulus and Remus, who fought each other. Romulus killed his brother, named the city Roma, and claimed Palatine Hill. From there we looked all around the remains of the palace and the Roman Forum. I keep thinking about everything I saw. I am so interested in the Roman history and I don't want to forget it all! I keep researching more about it and added a list of about ten movies set in Rome that I want to watch/rewatch.
We grabbed some lunch and headed to Hostel Alessandro Palace and Bar to check-in. I was very impressed with the hostel. It was really impressive for a hostel and the staff was great. Our 8 person dorm was just fine! From there I googled our options and we came up with an official game plan. First up was our hike to dinner in Piazza Del Popolo. Here we came across the end of a protest. We had seen people all day wearing these red shirts and we tried to ask what it was about. The most we gathered was that people didn't like the prime minister. Megan worked at a restaurant this summer and met a man who lives in Rome. He gave three recommendations for dinner and we chose Pollarolo Pizzeria. This was a great decision. It was a little family run tattoria and the place was mostly filled with Italians. I chose a ham, egg, and cheese calzone. Great choice! And of course we got some wine and tried a fried zucchini quiche.
Next on our Rome bucket list was the Trevi Fountatin. I remembered that you were supposed to throw 3 coins in, but I wasn't sure why. Later we found it that the rule is 1 to come back to Rome, 2 to find love, and 3 to get married in Rome. Whoops. I hope that Sarah and Megan are ok with #3! I was sure make at lease one of my coins a Euro so I would have some good Karma coming my way. So here's to good things in my Italian future! We also wanted to check out the McDonalds nearby because we had seen it on the travel channel as one of the top unique McDonalds. Everything in that part of Rome has certain standards, so the inside was supposed to look like cobblestone and have elaborate decorations. It wasn't quite like travel channel painted it, but it was much better than any McDonalds I've been in to.
The one thing I had to do since I was returning to Rome was go back to the Spanish Steps at night. This was some of my favorite memories form my high school trip. So the girls and I were on a mission to get a few bottles of wine and people watch on the Spanish Steps. After quite a search for wine we found some from a street vendor and headed to the steps. Sarah's friend Jiff is studying in Rome so we attempted to meet up with him, but he was too far away. Instead we got more wine and made some new friends. My map reading skills were still great because we stumbled our way back to the hostel with no problems. We decided to check out the bar at out hostel and made some friends there. I was surprised with how many people we talked to that were traveling alone. I met a girl from Canada that is studying in Nice and was traveling all through Italy for her fall break alone. Another girl we met had just finished her medical schooling but wasn't ready for full time work, so she's just traveling for while. I made friends with the bartender and we switched roles so that I could do some bartending. The place wasn't very full, but between me bartending and Sarah taking over the ipod blasting Lady Gaga we were having a great time.
The next morning we hopped on the train and went to Vatican City. We were a little bummed because we found out everything but St. Peter's Basilica would be closed since it was Sunday. But this was on our list of things, so we went anyway. Everything turned out great because we arrived in the middle of mass. Seeing mass at the Vatican was incredible. Looking around the Vatican, seeing so many people, and hearing the service just gave me chills. We toured the Basilica using headphones that explained the different works of art. We ended up having a good day in Vatican City. We headed out for lunch and came across a little tattoria to grab some food. The staff was very friendly and it turned into a day of compliments. I'm not sure if it was a "Sunday fever", like how people get "holiday fever" and are so nice around Christmas, or what, but everyone was so nice in Rome. These two guys we were chatting with were asking about America. I'm getting tired of trying to explain that I'm from St. Louis or Missouri. I've resorted to saying I'm from Chicago. It's pretty much the only city people know from the midwest.
Our last stop was the capuchin crypt, a recommendation from my friend Amanda. This was a little creepy, but very cool. It is a cemetery for 4000 monks, but their bones are all hung on the walls in different way. It's sort of like artwork. Different body parts were in the different rooms. We kept wondering why someone would do this, but then we learned it was built to honor them. People were digging in the graveyard and ruining the graves, so someone took the bodies and arranged them in this cemetery below a church. I couldn't take photos, but if you google it some of the rooms are shown. After this we were exhausted and headed to the train station. I caved and finally got some McDonalds in Italy. It was pretty fantastic. When I returned to Florence I was on cloud 9. I still can't believe that I'm studying here and get to see all these amazing things. I'm so incredibly thankful!
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