Bellissima Roma

Rome was unbelievable. Or "INbelievable" as I accidentally muttered to Adair while oogling at the Trevi Fountain on Saturday night. I swear, I can't speak English anymore. And I can't really speak Italian...contrary to what all of the Romans we interacted with said. Their tourists must be even more painful than the ones in Firenze. It was quite the ego boost. (Side note: there are still people called "Romans". hilarious.)
Travel was very uneventful. Which is typically a good adjective for travel. We took a three hour train from Florence to Rome and arrived at about 6 o'clock at night. From the train station we walked to our hostel--the Walter Guest House. Brief description: The Walter Guest House is located in China town (yes, there is a China town in Rome. No, it is not as nice as San Francisco's. And it's arguably not as nice as China town in Detroit--if that's a thing). It was pretty disgusting, to be honest. But- what's being a traveling college student if not staying in bizarre hostels? So we found the address no problem and headed up to meet the proprietor. If I had to guess "Walter" is about as far from a Walter as you can imagine. He and his entire family were crowded into the lobby eating cur

ry chicken and watching some outrageous Bollywood film. That's all I'm going to say about that. So he showed us to our room.. I really feel like this picture of the light fixture is enough to paint a mental picture. There were also signs posted all around that were written as ridiculously in Italian as they were in English. So as to confuse EVERYONE who might be staying there. Including the Chilean guy who stayed with us the first night. Who only really spoke Spanish. When I asked him on Friday morning as we were all heading out, "Where are you headed today?" He responded, "Chile." Clearly I replied, "Ooooo. Fun."
We saw all of the major sights. The Vatican, Colosseum, Pantheon, Trevi Fountain... insane. Rome is absolutely beautiful. Did you know that the Colosseum was built in year 80? 80! It's too bad we don't have millions of slaves around to erect outrageous monuments to narcissistic rulers anymore. They made some cool stuff. I mean, I guess we could do without the slaves thing. But, really.
The Vatican was (obviously) my favorite place I've ever visited, I think. Everything was incredible. And Catholic. Which is a double-whammy in my opinion. I had no idea that the Vatican Museums were as crazy as they are. Mummies, Roman statues, The School of Athens, the Belvedere Statue. Things I never expected to see in real life. Thank goodness it was all accompanied by an audio guide (of which I have become a HUGE fan. I'm gonna start taking pictures straight-faced with a peace sign in front of monuments. If you know what I mean) And then to finish it all of with the Sistine Chapel. Accidenti. ('wow' in Italian- pronounced ah-chi-dent-ee. I suggest you all pick that one up. It's 'great fun'.) I was actually informed on Saturday morning that I was drunkenly ranting to Spencer about the Creation of Man and how "Michaelangelo is like a mind reader or something."--Really, Lauren? Who drunkenly rants about that kind of stuff?
I mean, this entry is obviously best expressed in pictures. I had a fabulous time. And I did my best to "UMH", Modge. No disasters to report.
Off to Madrid with Jenna tomorrow. So pumped.
Love and miss you all! Baci.