Typical Rome Tourist: Colosseum & The Vatican City

Ciao Stranger,

After 10 long strenuous days of travelling around Europe with my brother (Eddy), I am finally back in Rome. Oh how I've missed this place. It may sound silly since I've only been here for two months (and half the time I haven't even been in Rome) but this city really feels like home to me now. After two weeks of living in the same room and sharing a bed with my brother, the responsible older sister role has finally come to an end. Time to get back to the Erasmus lifestyle! I have LOTS to update on, so bare with me. In the next couple of days, I will try to type as much as I can and share all my stories with you. Some may be a tad boring (like this entry) but trust me, the good stuff will come. So be patient with me and come along on my Europe travels...with my brother.

On Sunday, we just walked around the centre of the city, being typical tourists. It felt kind of good being a tour guide for someone, talking as if you know everything even when you know zip. I was quite surprised at how much information I obtained in the weeks I've been here. I guess I have been paying attention, even if it wasn't for school. Trajan's Market, exactly as the name says, used to be a marketplace for the Trajan's back in the 100 AD. It's right across the Forums and I've walked by here a gazillion times by now but this is the first time I stopped and took a picture. 

 

Taken in the Monti area, my favourite part of Rome. It's even more magnificent at night, with the moonlight glimmering overhead, the dim street lights casting shadows...oh damn it, where's my date?!

Since I knew from the start that I would be having my lovely family member join me in Rome, I saved the two biggest attractions: The Colosseum and The Vatican. I had read from another blog that you can pre-book a special tour of the Colosseum where they take you to the bottom of the arena, where it's usually closed off to the public. It's 10 extra Euros and you have to call in to buy your tickets first but it was worth every penny. First off, you get to skip the line, which usually takes about 2 hours (on a good day), and you get a guided 1.5 hour tour of the whole place. You're going to see one of the 8 wonders of the world, you might as well do it right.

Picture from underneath the Colosseum. Crazy to imagine animals and gladiators running around down here, preparing to fight to their death.

And the view from the top. TADA!!! Best view of the house. I won't bore you with the history of this place, because if you ever go to Rome, you're bound to come and check this place out for yourself. If I hadn't gone on the tour, I wouldn't really think much of this place. Ruins of stones...yay...but once you learn about the history, you'll see it in a different light. This place may look like a wreck now, but try to imagine it in white and coloured marble, with 80,000 fans standing around, cheering for the gladiators fighting below. Crazy.

If you buy a ticket for the Colosseum, you can go into the Forums as well, which is what the center of Ancient Rome used to look like. Obviously now, it's just a scatter of ruins everywhere. It's definitely something you see once, and won't ever want to see it again (unless you're into old decaying buildings).

You do get a nice view of Rome at some of the higher points of the Forum. It's quite big and Eddy and I got lost in it numerous times, walking around in circles, just trying to get out.

Our typical routine was to grab a gelato whenever we wanted a break from walking, and then get up, see a church, go in and stare at the ceilings, then repeat by hitting up another gelato shop. I don't think you can tell from the picture below but the painting on the wall is done so that it looks 3D. It's too hard to describe, just...nod like you know what I'm trying to say. At night I took Eddy to Momart (the awesome apertif restaurant) with the Singaporean boys and we stuffed ourselves until we all gained 5 pounds.

Last Monday I left Eddy at home all day while I went to school and then off to the immigration office to get my fingerprints done for the stupid residence card. It took me 2 hours to get to this place because it's in the middle of nowhere. I'm just glad I didn't have to wait in a line because the office was closing by the time I got there. What am I going to do with this useless card? Absolutely nothing. But it cost me 150 Euros and 3 days of my life. Biggest waste of money. Nonetheless, I got it all done with and now I will never have to deal with Italian bureaucracy again...at least let's hope not.

Tuesday afternoon we went to The Vatican. Yay for the smallest state in the world! Only about 100 acres in total, and half of it is the garden in the back. After seeing how amazing booking tickets beforehand was, I did the same for the Vatican, and even got us another guided tour. Once again, my mentality of "I'm only going to do this once so I might as well do it right" set in and I handed over the money unwillingly.

According to our guide, this is the best view of St.Peter's from the Vatican Museum. Tip for those wanting to go into the museum. Go around 3pm and you'll realize that the place is essentially deserted, and you get to wander around without fighting with all the other tourists.

The museum is massive, and you could literally spend all day inside. I got a neck cramp just from looking at all the ceiling artworks. This one below is 100% painted. So the stuff that resembles a white side panel? Yeah, painted. All these 3D looking paintings is really messing with my brain.

More examples of the crazy ceilings. Get me a brush, my room's ceiling is looking a little too white!

And now onto the reason why everyone flocks to The Vatican Museum: The Sistine Chapel, where the decision of electing a new Pope takes place. Now I would definitely take a picture of the Sistine Chapel but due to copyright issues (a Japanese company owns the right to all the pictures inside the chapel until 2016) I will just steal one from the internet. These are Michelangelo's greatest masterpieces. It took him 4 years to do the paintings on the ceiling, where he painted standing up, day and night. I was complaining after looking at for 10 minutes, I can't imagine what it must have been like doing this for years. He must not have had very good posture, that's for sure. Then in his 60s, he spent 6 years painting the blue backdrop wall, known as the Last Judgement. How he managed to do everything is beyond me. This guy is pure magic, I applaud you Michelangelo. If you don't have a guide telling you beforehand what you're seeing, all of this may be overwhelming and you won't be able to appreciate its true beauty, so please, do yourself a favour and get a tour guide or pay for an audio tour.

 

And to end it right, we went into St. Peter's Basilica, where underneath the church, lies St.Peter's tomb. The church itself is famous for its dome, designed by Michelangelo to be similar to the Pantheon. They say if you've seen St. Peter's, then you would've seen the Colosseum as well as all of the big churches in Rome. This is because in order to build St. Peter's, a large amount of marble had to be used, so people simply recycled materials by taking them off other structures. Once you see this church, you'll understand why this had to happen...it's simply too grand, with every corner of the place covered in marble. We also wanted to climb the outside of the dome and get a view of Rome but the staircase was closed by the time we got there. Pity. I guess I'll just have to do it another time. Maybe next time I'll get to see Papa Francesco (the Pope) as well. Wait for me!

Once you exit St. Peter's, on the right hand side, you'll see two Swiss army guards. These guards are all under 25 years old, and can't work for more than 2 years at The Vatican. But I can't take them seriously because their uniform just reminds me of jesters.

While I was walking around in The Vatican taking pictures, an elderly woman in her 70s walked by me and pointed at my skirt. She repeated yelled "too short too short, not right!!!" at me while I smiled and told her "they're fine". Michelle being scandalous in The Vatican. Oh dear...

That night we all went to M&C's to have a movie night. Originally, we planned to watch The Godfather, a classic Italian movie but due to a slow internet connection, we ended up watching a chick flick of Crazy, Stupid, Love. Nonetheless I'm pretty sure all the guys loved it :) And that's a wrap for my time in Rome last week before I left for Paris. I'm sorry for the dull entry, but since all my brother and I did were the typical touristy things, I really couldn't make this more interesting.

Outside Rome: Tivoli

Ciao Stranger,

After a week long stay on a ship, it felt good to be back in Rome. And being as efficient as I could, I did my laundry, took a quick nap to fuel my body and went out to meet my beloved Erasmus friends at night. Oh how I've missed them so. :) Since I don't have class on Friday, I hibernated in my room, catching up on TV shows, movies, and sleep. Man did it feel good to be a slump for a day: a taste of the old Michelle.

Early Saturday morning, the crew decided to head to Tivoli, a city that's about a 45min bus/train ride away from Rome. Ever wonder where they got all the limestones to build the Colosseum? Yep, Tivoli. Since we were taking a bus there, I thought we would be doing minimum walking and decided to wear heels. What a mistake that was. Oh well, at least I got a great workout that day. Our first stop was Hadrian's Villa, a retreat for the Roman emperor back in the 2nd century AD, and now all that's left are mostly ruins. On our way to the Villa, multiple cars and pedestrians stopped and offered (free-willingly) to give us directions. That's definitely unheard of in Rome, so plus points for Tivoli! Once you enter the villa, the first thing you see is this pleasant pond surrounded by lavender. Gather around, it's time for mandatory group pictures! 

The rest of the villa looked something like this. Ruins, green algae filled ponds, trees, and more ruins. Thoughts? Adequate, but wouldn't suggest this place if you're on a tight schedule.

 Hadrian's Villa is actually at the bottom of the mountain, and from it, you can see Tivoli.

 And the view from Tivoli down the mountain. What a contrast. How creative of me!

Once we got to the actual city of Tivoli, we made a pit stop for lunch at a local restaurant. Below is a picture of Alex's lunch, shrimp and calamari pasta. Being a picky Frenchman, he claims that it is the best meal he's ever had in his life. "I culd juzt die right now". I just had a bite of his calamari and I have to say, it was the best calamari I've ever tasted in my life. Full of flavour and it tasted surprisingly fresh, even though we were on top of a mountain. If I ever go back to Tivoli again, I'm getting this pasta for sure.

Inside the Villa d'Este, built for a Cardinal, you'll find a garden beyond anything you could imagine. Over 500 jets of water from fountains and ponds, it makes everything seem almost fairytale like. Just when you think you've seen the most stunning water fountain and put your camera away, you walk 5 steps and find an even more impressive one and can't resist taking out your camera again. Word of advice, just keep your camera on the whole time you're there. It's impossible to take a bad picture with a jaw dropping background like this.

I wish I had this as my backyard. I would definitely never leave my house then, and this time, I'll have a legitimate reason too.

Another group picture, because how could you resist not to take a picture there? Simply impossible.

Yeah, this is part of the garden too. I highly recommend coming here. If you have an extra day to spare in Rome, I HIGHLY recommend you to go up to Tivoli, eat their shrimp and calamari pasta at the restaurant by the train station, go to Villa d'Este with a working camera to snap a gazillion pictures, walk around the town which has a great suburban vibe to it, sit down at a local bar and crab a coffee (or tea in my case) and people watch. You won't regret it, trust me. It's one of my favourites "in" Rome.

Everyone passed out on the bus on our way back, but instead of heading home to relax on my bed, I trekked my way to the airport to pick up my brother. Since it's his spring break, he's spending 2 weeks in Europe with me. Don't worry, I'll have more on our travelling adventures on my next blog.

Cruise Part 2: Marseilles, Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca

Ciao Stranger,

Before I hear any complaints about how I'm not updating regularly enough, let me just say that I'm writing this while in Paris (Yes, I'm out travelling again, I know I know). Yeah, I've been so busy that I've had to resort to spending my evenings in Paris indoors, writing my blog. So without further ado, I present to you, the remaining days of my cruise adventures.

Day 4.

First time in France, oh the excitement!!! The 6 of us got in a taxi and went to the Notre Dame De La Garde first thing in the morning. Being the crown jewel of Marseilles, the 10,000 kg golden Mary and baby Jesus can be seen from all over the city. Who's up for some serious Italian Job action? We'll split the profit? Yeah?

The inside of the church is also plastered in gold as well. Can we steal that too? :) The ceiling really reminds me a lot of the church in Venice, but this one is quite festive, almost Christmasy. Look at me, making references to other basilicas, who would've thought I could do such a thing. The Michelle two months ago would be impressed, way to go.

 View of the city of Marseilles from the Notre Dome, what a beauuuuty.

At first I thought France would be a whole new world, but honestly, Marseilles wasn't quite what I was expecting. It has a very dry landscape with lots of stone based buildings. There aren't that many touristy sights in the city to see, so we just strolled around and took our time taking pictures here and there: example shown below. How European are these buildings? I think they're extra refreshing because none of the buildings in Rome are as tall and chic looking.

Marseilles also has this all glass, super modern looking tram that just about made my day. Everytime it went by, I would point at it and exclaim in excitement. What can I say, I'm easily pleased.

Now in case you didn't know this already, let me just say that McDonalds is a traveller's best friend. They have free clean bathrooms (which is hard to come by in Europe), free wifi (jackpot!) and cheap food if you're hungry. In other words, a low budget traveller's pot of gold. You see that golden arch? You run towards it when you need to pee, just run! After an hour long wash...bathroom/wifi break, we shopped for some candy and soaps since most of the other stores were closed on Sunday. At lunch we decided to eat near the port and had crepes, because we are in France after all.

We went into some of the smaller alleyways and you could smell the scents of Donairs, rice, rotisserie chicken and other spices in the air.  I didn't realize this but Marseilles is highly populated with North Africans due to its location. The majority of us got hungry in the afternoon so we headed back to the ship a bit early and went to the buffet to satisfy our stomachs.

Day 5.
It's an amazing feeling waking up each morning at a different port, going to the top deck to grab an unlimited amount of food and be surprised at the new scenery outside. Today, we arrived at Barcelona. Whenever I ask anyone what their top 3 European cities are, Barcelona always ends up on it somehow. Also, this was my first choice for exchange (it was gone by the time I signed up) so I had a very high expectation for this city. Guido hasn't had a good night's sleep since he's been on the cruise due to a non-memory foam bed and a "horn honking" snoring Min, so the two of them decided to sleep in while the rest of us got up bright and early and went into the city. Barcelona is no small city, with too many attraction spots to cover for a day, so we thought the best way to get a general idea of everything would be the stereotypical double decker touristy buses. It might look sunny but I was cowering in the corner of the seat trying to stay warm the whole time I was up there, quite the windy experience.

The second the bus started rolling, I couldn't stop my hand from taking pictures left and right. This city blew my mind away with its infrastructures. Unlike Rome, who's buildings look ancient with a layer of dust that seems to have been there since the Roman Empire ages, Barcelona is filled with intricately designed houses with a modern tough to it. Even the roads are widely spread out, and people follow the law! Why would anyone ever leave this place? Why? Building after building of this...if you study architecture, please do yourself a favour and come here.

If you like to shop, then you'll know that Zara is a Spanish brand, and is about 10-20 Euros cheaper in the country. Knowing this, Arlette and I had been holding ourselves back, but after seeing the 5th Zara in a span of 10 minutes, we could no longer resist ourselves and indulged in some intense 30 minute shopping. As we were walking, I had made a comment that "I can barely see anything because the sun is so strong" and a lovely Spanish chap walking the other way commented that "maybe it's because you're Asian". I was so stunned by his quick response that I couldn't even think of a comeback. Actually, who am I kidding, I still can't. Nicely played stranger, you won this time. At the end, we found the Barcelona Cathedral, a Gothic styled church. Yes there were gargoyles on it.

If you buy a postcard of Barcelona, you'll be damn certain that the Sagrada Familia will be on it. An amazing church that was started by Gaudi (who's masterpieces can be seen all over the city) over 100 years ago, and as you can see, it is still under construction and won't be done until the year 2080. Here's an idea to speed up the process, fly over 2-3 planes of Asians and get them to do it, it will probably be done in 2 years.

The other side. Wait, this is the same church? Since Gaudi died before he could finish the whole thing, another architect came in to do the other side of the church. It looks as if the church was made of wax and the sun was melting it down. Absolutely magnificent. Pictures do not do this building any justice. You must go see it in person.

Next stop: Parc Guell, a park designed by...who else but Gaudi. It has colourful mosaic made animals everywhere but we were on a tight schedule and budget so we didn't actually go inside the park, but rather right on top of it. A view of Barcelona. Don't worry, I'll come back for you soon!

Day 6.
Our last port stop, Palma de Mallorca, an island on the coast of Spain. Because the city was located right at the harbour with a stunning coastline, we thought it would be a great idea to rent some bikes and travel through the city like locals. Boy oh boy was it a good decision. The city was made for bikers! There's a bike lane on the board walk, so we biked along the coast, passing all the beaches and restaurants as we went. Here's us in front of the La Seu, a Gothic cathedral that looks like a castle from a Disney movie.

 

We spend hours biking around the old town, through tiny passageways, stairs, and bumpy roads. I absolutely loved it, and only wish this was possible in Rome as well. After my last biking incident in Rome, I've been slightly traumatized to do it again. However, in Mallorca, I feel like I could almost bike with my eyes closed. Here's a picture of the front of the church, because I didn't take that many pictures since I was too busy using both my hands to bike.

Day 7.

A day at sea as we head back to Rome. For the first time since we've been on the boat, we could finally sleep in. Yipeeeee!!! We chilled, played a LOT of cards, ate, napped, and had a relaxing day doing absolutely nothing. It was fantastic, and just what our bodies needed, especially after an exhausting week of seeing different cities everyday. Here's what a typical main course for us looked like. Keep in mind that there was an appetizer, and a plate of pasta before this. I loved sitting beside Sean or Min because they would order 90% of the stuff on the menu and I could just eat their stuff. 

Sean: I'd like to order everything on the menu.

Waitress: I'm sorry?!

Sean: I want everything.

Waitress: Uh...that's not possible.

Of course Arlette and I only went crazy for dessert as we would order 2-3 every night. Don't judge, we're pigs. I'm missing the food on the cruise as I'm writing this right now...

 

The crew on formal night. A week of stories, laughter and food sharing, how could it be anything but amazing. Who's up for another one?

Cruise: Cinque Terre & Savona

Ciao Stranger,

GUESS WHO'S BACK?! :) I know you missed me lots, and I didn't mean to take so long to upload a post but I've been busy hanging out with my friends in Rome whom I haven't seen in a week (feels like a month), my brother flew in last night so we've been touring the city together, I need to go through all my hundreds of pictures from the cruise to decide on which ones to upload, plan for my upcoming trips and "study" for my midterm on Tuesday. I need to time watch Hermione had to pause time. Before I go off topic, let's get to the topic of today...my cruise trip!

We’ve all been in this situation before: it’s late at night and you’re browsing the web, looking at cheap vacation packages and dreaming of what it would be like if you could go to one of those places. You hope that perhaps you’ll run into a markdown so appealing that you just might be able to go, although realistically, you know that that will never happen, no matter how cheap the trip might be. I too was in a similar situation, but instead of turning down the offer; I booked the 300 euro cruise that was leaving in a week and got 5 friends to join me on this spontaneous escapade. Now a day by day breakdown:

Day 1.

The 6 of us all skipped our classes and met up at Termini Station at 1:30pm. Yes we’re missing a week of class. What can I say, we’re top quality students. But being the one who organized and booked the trip, I felt nervous all day, fearing that something might go wrong and I would feel responsible for dragging everyone down. Thankfully everything went according to plan and 6 starving monsters boarded the ship, ready to eat as much food as our stomach can hold.

 

First, let me introduce you to our cruise ship, Costa Pacifica. The ship is relatively new, being built in 2009 and displays a general musical theme in terms of decorations. There are 12 decks in total, and Arlette and I live on the 6^th floor while the other 4 boys are all on the 10^th. Because I had just recently gone on a cruise in January with "Carnival", a sister company of Costa, I got used to the ship’s layout very quickly. Because of this, I was expecting the two ships to be identical in every aspect, and boy was I wrong. Pacifica spends a lot more time on the port so the time spent at sea is shorter, with little entertainment on board. It’s also difficult to cater something to one audience because everyone seems to be speaking a different language. Every time there’s an announcement made, it’s repeated 8 times: Italian, English, Spanish, French, Japanese, German…(and possibly more but by then I've zoned out already). The ship’s crew members are nowhere as energetic and polite as the ones on Carnival. Either they’re overworked here or they’re paid too low. But really, feed me yummy food, provide me a comfy bed and give me hot water and I’ll be a happy camper any day. After a delightful dinner, we made our way to the casino and spent 2 hours there…losing money. Being the risk adverse person that I am, I played vicariously through my friends. We had to wake up early the next morning so the majority of us headed to bed while Min stayed in the casino and did his thing.

Day 2.

Today was the day for Cinque Terre, my most awaited destination in Italy. It consists of 5 small villages on the coastline, with picturesque scenery. The ship docked at La Spezia, where we could take a short train ride to the villages. Us before we got all sweaty and nasty...

   

We started with the northern most town called Monterosso with a small beach and while looking for a high ground to take better pictures, we discovered the hiking route to Vernazza (another town). I've heard the hikes are phenomenal so we buckled down and went on the 90 minute hike. I would give the difficulty level a 6/10 if the Grouse grind was 10/10. The path is tiny and at many places, you wouldn't be able to fit two people standing side by side. I'm not sure if you can see it in the picture but far off in the distance, you can make out the village we were headed to. Yeah, we hiked along the winding coastline.

 

One false move and you would fall off the cliff and into the abyss. This was made even more difficult because you now have to watch your every step while trying to admire the scenery at the same time. Riskiest double tasking ever. I would've loved to have seen all 5 villages but we only made it to 4 due to time restrictions but that’s enough for me. The hike was definitely the highlight of my day, with a view like this, I could hike this path all day, ereday!

  

Arlette and I being photogenic tourists :)

I wanted to buy one of these paintings but they were so overpriced. You think you can fool me? If I can't have you, I'll just take a picture of you! Take that!

A picture with my favourite companion of the trip: Costa Pacifica <3

Once we got back on board, we all went straight to the restaurant and stuffed ourselves with a 5 course dinner. Min and Guido purchased the all you can drink package for the cruise so they’ll be drunk for the remainder of the trip J. Arlette Matt and I headed off to bed early again while the other 3 stayed and got drunk. 

Day 3.

Arlette Matt and I got up at 7:30 AM so that we could catch the 9 AM train to Genoa. We didn't find the train in time and decided to lay on the beach for a while, just relaxing and getting our tan on. I think the sun made us lazy because by the time we could catch the next train to Genoa, we just couldn't bring ourselves to do it anymore and stayed in Savona. While walking around, we found a bike rental place and boy oh boy was it a blast. We biked up ramps just so we can speed downhill. We’re kids at heart, don’t judge. A picture of our trio bike!

 

The other 3 guys apparently took the later train in an attempt to get to Genoa, but ended up taking the wrong train and going to an unknown destination. Maybe it was a good thing we didn't attempt to go there ourselves. After walking around the city for a bit (there’s not much to see), the 3 of us headed back to the cruise and had a feast of a lunch. I haven’t had a burger in months now, probably since the last time I was on a cruise…I've forgotten how delicious they can be. The rest of the day consisted of eating more food and playing card games, very intensive. Life's just so tough sometimes :)


...to be continued

Temporarily Unavailable.

Ciao Stranger,

I don't want to abandon you but I'm afraid this blog will be temporarily frozen for the upcoming week. That's right, no more exhilarating stories from yours truly. I am getting deported due to inappropriate public dress code violation. Apparently nudity is not appreciated in Italy.
HA! Please now, don't get your hopes up. I simply won't have internet access for the next week due to travelling restrictions hence no updates. And where am I headed to? Well my friend I guess you'll just have to wait till next week to find out!

But before I leave, I would like to ask something from you. Yes, you, the stranger sitting there reading my blog in your PJs. Don't you think it's unfair how one-sided this feels? You've been reading my thoughts from this blog and now I want to know your opinion too. Help a friend out:
If you could recommend one place in Europe for me to travel to, where would it be? It could be somewhere you've been to yourself or a place you've always wanted to go to.

Until next week.

Update: Last Week

Ciao Stranger,

I've been a little behind with my blog lately and if I keep this up, I'll be a week late with all my posts so I thought I would just update you with the highlights of my last week's endeavours in one post. Since school has officially started rolling, I don't have as much free time as I used to anymore, meaning less time spent travelling the city. In other words, this post won't be crazy long. Or maybe it will, who knows, I'm very unpredictable.

Monday: Day I got the bike I mentioned about in the previous post. 

Tuesday: Went to Castel Sant'Angelo in the afternoon with some friends. It was built as a tomb for a Roman Emperor, then used as a castle, prison, apostolic palace (residence of the Pope) and now, a museum. It's honestly a maze inside the castle, with stairways everywhere leading up to unknown rooms. If I go back here again, it would be to play hide and seek. I know, I come up with the best ideas. The museum area is pretty small and it just contained more Voldemort like sculptures. I won't bore you with the pictures but I think you get the idea. Plus the  lady got mad at me for taking a picture. As if I'm doing it to appreciate it the art. I just wanted to show you more nose-less sculptures :) It also had a room with framed pictures on its ceiling. We just gazed at the wall for 10 minutes, taking in all its glory. 

  

And if you keep heading upwards (because you really have no idea which staircase you're supposed to take), you'll end up at the top, with a view of this. You can see pretty much all of Rome. To the right is the Vatican City with St.Peter's (not shown in the picture because the Sun's glare was that way).

 SELFIE TIME!!! Look at that impeccable smile. I know you missed them.

Seen the movie Angels & Demons? Then this statue should look familiar to you. How typical tourist of me, I know I know. We all went home shortly after because we were freezing our asses off. Rome's sun is deceiving. In the morning, you wake up, see the sun shinning those golden rays and you think to yourself "why it's so warm out, a thin sweater will do" and you're right. While you're on the bus, you'll be laughing at the local Italians in their fur coats thinking they must be out of their minds and sweating under all that weight. But around 3pm when the sun starts to drop, you'll understand why the locals wear so much and wish you had a dead animal around you as well. The wind picks up and that's when we start running home like the tourists that we are.

Wednesday & Thursday: What, do I have to do something everyday? Movie time!!!!! If you know me, you will understand the significance of that. I also did homework for the first time since I've been in Rome. Pathetic? I think not! Don't hate cause you're jealous ;)

Friday: Toga Party Time!!! But before the party, we had a dinner party at Maeva's where she cooked us a delicious feast of Risotto. Yum yum yum! Ancient Romans eating pasta, I think we got it down. We're taking turns hosting dinner parties at each of our places; I do not know what I will do when it comes to my turn. Ascenzo, help?!

Look at my beauuuutiful friends. Arlette and I went out in the afternoon in search of bedsheets and hair accessories. I think we outdid ourselves with our outfits.

And because we're dressed for the part, we decided to go take some classic pictures with the Colosseum at 5 in the morning when it was pouring. And running home under our bedsheets looking like we just came out of a shower made it so much more memorable. I may have gotten sick from the rain but I have absolutely no regrets.

Saturday: Met up with Carl, a fellow UBC exchanger who was visiting Rome from Paris. Long story short, through random connections of friends of friends, Carl's friends along with my fellow Erasmus friends had a lovely dinner together in the Cavour neighbourhood. Dinner led to drinks followed by more drinks...you know how it is. Vancouverites has a dinner together: so many Asians. How typical.

Sunday: Went to the Porta Portese marketplace with John and Gabriel since it's only open on Sundays. It's decently sized; about 5 blocks long. You'll find absolutely anything you can think of there. Need mink jackets? Souvenirs? Socks? Scarves? Kitchen utensils? CDs? Tables? Have no fear, Porta Portese is where you'll need to go. It was raining by the time we got there so we didn't really "shop" much rather than walked through the whole marketplace and took breaks at a cafe then at a restaurant. Don't judge, we like to eat okay.

 

Because it was only the early afternoon, we decided to head to the center and see a few more sights. We climbed to the top of the Victor Emmanuel Monument which had a church right beside it. When I see a church, I'm obligated to go in and take a peek. Chandeliers in a church? Now that's a first.

And the view from outside the church. Look at that colour saturation in the picture! Yes I filtered it. Let's be real now, nothing in real life looks that good. Why can't we see the world in Instagram mode? Actually, I predict that in a couple of years, we'll be able to get surgery for our iris to do just that. Pick a filter you'd like to see the world in, and voila, everything will look 10x better. Let it be noted that I want to patent this idea. Facebook, I'll sell it to you for cheap, just $1 Billion, friendship price.

Here's us standing in Piazza Venezia overlooking the Victor Emmanuel Monument, made for the first King of Italy. I've passed this area countless times by now (I always discover myself around this area at 4 AM in the morning: finding a bus) but I still remember the first time I laid eyes on this monument. I was on the bus and I recall my jaw dropping as I glued my face to the window, staring out at this magnificent structure. I was speechless at how grand it is. Glad I finally got a picture with this. Check list: done.

  

This is taken at the top of the Spanish Steps. John has a passion for photography, and was upset that he didn't bring his professional gear with him that day. He saw this view, took out his phone, and told us to sit. I did what I was told and this happened. Hi John, you are now my new best friend. Wherever you go, I go. Sincerely, your future model.

I've seen so many pictures of this from other people's Facebook albums and I'm glad to finally have been able to see it with my own eyes. Gabriel said there's a rod under his arms that provides him with a seat to sit on. Optical illusion, you get me every time. I would've taken a closer picture but there was someone by the floating dude making sure you pay if you want a picture, and I'm obviously way too cheap for that so this is the best I could do. Yeah, you would've done the same.

Later the three of us met up with Matt, Arlette and Laura for some aperitif (Italian version of all-you-can-eat) at Momart. 10.50 euros for a cocktail and unlimited food? OH HECK YES!!! We ate and talked for 3 hours. If you ask me, that's money well spent my friend.

Monday & Tuesday: Chilling, drinking with friends, karaoke bar, and a handful of movies. You know, the good life. Alrighty, it's now 3:30 AM and I have my first Italian class in 6 hours so I should try to get some sleep. Buona notte e sogni d'oro :)