Fresh as a rose

Italian mama told us we looked "fresh as a rose" today... which is completely funny considering our night last night. All 20 of us did a bar crawl through Rome... let's just say we came, we crawled, and we didn't conquer. Oh, but I did fall in love with a beautiful Italian man, Patricio. Sorry Mama and Pops, I may come home married. When in Rome...

Trying to find taxi's home in Rome when the taxi drivers don't speak English was an adventure. But we made it back, got 5 hours of sleep, and toured Rome for 10 hours today. Exhausted is an understatement right now. We started at the Colosseum, which was remarkable. It's hard to imagine that being their form of entertainment. Italian mama said it is "like your superbowl." We learned the top part of it fell in an earthquake, which is why half of the Colosseum is much higher than the other half. Oh, and the sand on the floor was used to soak up all the blood... the two pieces of information I remembered from the tour. Next stop: Palatino. The same family built both the Palatino and Colosseum. Some family, huh? The Palatino is on one of the seven hills of Rome and is considered a very sacred area. There was so much to see here and it was b e a u t i f u l. I was obsessed with the lion king trees which are actually called umbrella pines. Our last stop was the Roman Forum which is full of ancient buildings and architecture. We saw the tomb of Julius Caesar, which is actually just his ashes because he was cremated and burned for 100 days. Italian mama kept saying something about the belly button of Rome, no idea what that is, but I thought it was precious. We all kept asking if that's supposed to mean it's the center? My belly button is definitely not the center of my body.

After walking for 6 hours, we were all delusional, exhausted, and hungry... mix all that with 20 girls and it's not a good combo. We just wanted food and of course Max wants to walk to the restaurant. We insisted on taking a bus, which the poor guy had to go buy a bus ticket cause he clearly walks everywhere. This area in Rome was my favorite... it was full of outside restaurants and the buildings were gorgeous. At dinner, we had pizzas (one for everyone), wine (which none of us were really in the mood for), and dun dun dun nutella pizza for dessert. Heavenly. Without question the best chocolate dessert I've ever had. Kara, Lauren, and I shared one and attacked it.

Random stories:


On our way walking to the metro this morning this little old Italian woman was looking at all of us... stopped... and said "so many Americans... you know they're American when you hear like like like!" So true and embarrassing. 


Dana, Kelly, Mary Katherine, and I went to fill up our water bottles at the fountain and on our way this man comes up to us and asks, "do you bicycle?" .... What? We all look at each other confused and answer "no." He follows us and continues to as if we bicycle. He finally says, "it's an awesome way to get to the catacombs." Thanks bicycle man, we've done that already. We get to the fountain and the smallest little Chinese man apparently was a little too excited for his water and slips and goes "oh shit." But say it in a Chinese accent so it was like "ah sheet." We died laughing. 


Kate bought a fedora.. and looks like a true Italian now. 

I just got in a fight with the shower... and the shower won. Considering I haven't shaved in God knows how long... I figured I'd give it a try. Giant Americans don't fit in Italian showers. End of story. 

And all of the flowers here are the prettiest things I've ever seen. Everywhere. 

I'm pretty sure we were all delusional today... and maybe even sleep walking. But it was such a fun day full of sight seeing.