Pre-Semester Adventures Part 2: An American in Rome.

    I meant to write this 2 weeks ago...then the semester started. Oops. But anyway, here it is.

    My journey continued with a night ferry from Split to Ancona, Italy. Which was fine until the morning when a storm had rolled into Ancona and it made moving around my cabin, let alone getting up the stairs, a bit more challenging. I had ran into a girl from Split when boarding the ferry and met up with her again when we arrived in Ancona. Since both of us had hours to spend in Ancona and she spoke Italian we hung around together until her train left.

   I don't really know how to comment on the people in the train station. Other then I blame them for getting me sick. Which is probably mean of me, but they really weirded me out and I was already feeling crappy- the pre-sick feeling where all of your nerves are super sensitive and it hurts to do anything; sit, wear clothes, etc. I mostly blame it on the really terrible perfume the one lady kept spraying to "make it smell better". I thought my brain was going to gush through my nose. Cue migraine. So yeah. Not the best start for things.

   As I forced myself to sleep as much of the way to Rome as I could, I felt myself getting sicker every time I woke up. Pretty sure I was scaring the people sitting beside me. Oh well. Leave me here to die, really, that would have been much better. So most of my time was spent trying to get over being sick and get a normal voice back.

   I was going to list specifics of what I did in Rome, but I forgot most of them by now, but I figure the Romans will add what I forget in the comments (hint, hint).  Lucky for me, I got to spend my first time in Rome with natives. Not only did I get to see the tourist sites, but also the every day aspects. It was nice to spend sometime with family. Especially my cousins. Finally seeing each other for more than a few days in passing and having the biggest language barrier being my lack of voice. After traveling alone for a week or so, it was nice to have people to talk to that you would see more than once. Which led to my apparent apathy of deciding what to do. 1. I was glad that someone else would, potentially, have to decide what to do. 2. Was trying to not being completely tourist-y and be like this:

                                                 

 So to keep this from being even more long-winded, I will give an abridged version of my 10 days in Rome.

First- There was a lot of rainy days and I learned that the Romans freak out when it rains. Already being sick and knowing I'm neither sweet enough nor evil enough to melt meant I was still going to be a tourist, despite the weather. 

• The Mouth of Truth and the church with which it is now associated.
• Piazza Venezia and the museums inside the "Typewrite", Immigration Museum and some sort of war history museum (Marco, some help please) and Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
• Pantheon
• Piazza Navona-where I ate this delicious little chocolate truffle-like thing called a tartufo
• Met up with the girl from the ferry at the Spanish Steps
• Piazza della Republica, walked up to the Villa de Medici

• Spent the day hanging out in the Knights of Columbus office with Aunt Susie, watched the Swiss Guards and later the new Pope drive by when leaving the Vatican
• St. Peter's Basilica
• the "fake Moses" statue
• Trevi fountain- I personally think that is how Europeans get rid of 1 and 2 cent coins
• Easter in Ostia

• St. Paul's Outside the Walls
• St. Maria Maggiore (three out of four papal basilicas aren't bad, right?)
• Cousins time at the Palantine, Colosseum, and Roman Forum
• Romulus' Temple and Cosma e Damiano 
• The real Moses at St. Peter in Chains
• Two Caravaggio paintings tucked away in the less important of three churches right next to each other
• Piazza di Popolo
• Santa Maria di Popolo
• Necropolis underneath the Vatican
• the Vatican Museums
•  Saving the best for last- the Sistine Chapel        

Those were most if not all of the tourist attractions I saw- I'm probably missing another handful of churches that just blurred into one. Staying with natives; however, means one gets to see a different side of the city. Marco was made my tour guide since we were both on "vacation" and poor Maria Cristina was still in school. We went out to dinner with his friends a few nights; a traditional Italian dinner, pizza, and bruschetta, and of course, gelato or just to grab drinks. He also took me to his "second home", the La Strada center in the Garbatella neighborhood and to the San Lorenzo center and the occupied theater. The family I was staying with made me dinner a few nights, I think I was bullied into coffee on a daily basis by the grandmother...but since we didn't speak the same language, I'm not entirely sure. 

Of course I recovered from what ever sickness I had right before I was to come home (home=my dorm in Giessen). But overall, I enjoyed my first trip to Rome and since I tossed a coin into the Trevi Fountain I know it won't be my last.