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 :)