Barbarians sack Rome

Rome last weekend was really much better than I imagined it would be. When thinking about this semester I knew I was going to go, but beyond that I didn’t think much about it. Turns out it was my favorite trip so far.After we arrived we visited our half star hotel (hostel really who are we kidding) and put our stuff away. That was the first big perk- no bag to carry. 2nd big perk was Krystina, in her infinite glory and mercy, told us that Rome would be a note-free trip. We basically landed a long weekend vacation with the best possible tour guide. Needless to say none of us felt a drop of the drizzling rain as we left the hostel.When we got off the metro at the Colosseum my mind barely processed it as real. I had seen it so many times in pictures and movies that my brain simply refused to understand it was right in front of me. That seemed to be a theme with me for most of rome actually. I was incredulous. Once reality set in though the sights were breathtaking.We saw the ruins of the Forum, the Colosseum, Trajan’s Column, The Vatican…basically all the big stops from an art history survey course. And with our lovely Canadian present and sharing her wealth of knowledge, the experience was that much more enlightening.Mike, Speedy, Colin, Meg, Stef, Naomi, Sheryl and myself all decided to stay for an extra night, and Tori met us there for her spring break. Really it was the best choice we could have made.The Guys and myself used all of our strength and woke up early Sunday morning and got some pizza across the street from the hostel. This was the pizza i had been picturing. It wasn’t the best in the world…but it looked it with its perfect spread of tomatoes and mozzarella. It was while we were eating that we decided that this semester has made slobs out of us, and that we were no better than the Barbarians who had come through there so many years before.We took a metro to the ruins, and visited the circus maximus, which is little more than a very long dirt track these days, and made our way back up to the forum. We pondered for a long time over visiting the Palentine hill, and the issue went back and forth in our decisions. When we thought it was free we were of course on board. When we learned it wasnt we decided to investigate the cost. 11 euro is too much. Well…is it? Wait…we can use the tickets from the Colosseum we had earlier. Forget it, Speedy and I don’t have ours anymore. We settled on buying to tickets and splitting them four ways, and as I am reaching into my pocket to give the woman exact change, Mike makes the interception of the year and pulls me out of line. He explains that if we show pictures of ourselves inside the colosseum we might be able to get in. We located a stunning picture of colin and myself and Mike approached the man. He looked at the rediculous photo, then back to us, and waved us on. The Palentine hill was cool on its own but that was the icing on the cake.                                                                                                                               We talked alot about how Venice is a great place to live because it is so different from everywhere else in the world, and that Rome, while cool, was another huge city. That being said huge cities have alot to offer.  Finding pubs at night was about as easy in rome as it is as difficult in venice. the boys and myself had no trouble kicking back and enjoying the official beer of our semester, Guiness.We were also able to enjoy a delicious meal for a very decent price, although we did have to really look for it.We also took Krystina’s advice and got some really delicious gelato at supposedly the best place in rome. Based off of the banana, orange, and kiwi scoops i got i wouldn’t contest it.  We caught an afternoon train home and basked in the recent memories of a glorious weekend, and prepared ourselves for an early italian lesson the next morning with Lorenza…”you know??”