When in Rome...

Sean, Sarah Miller and myself in the middle of Rome...

Christian iconography from ancient sarcophogi, Vatican City. (haha, art history class...)

Umbrella salesmen that chased us around Rome... ARGH

So we left Rome for the last time today, and I must admit a felt a twinge of remorse while we watched the crowded cityscape fade into the Italian countryside. I really honestly ended up liking Rome. I think a lot of that had to do with the new friends we met while we were there, our day trip to Florence, the ridiculously good food we ate last night with our friend Sean (pictured with us above), our New Years was completely unexpected and surprisingly fun (see the paragraph entitled how to have a good New Years in Rome). We saw the Pope at mass on New Years Day give a very interesting speech (what bit of it I could catch, the message was in Italian) most of it extremely political. Sean, our new friend from Seattle, Washington, helped us consume some amazing pizza, brushetta, and tiramisu (ask Sarah Miller how she got the tiramisu. Seriously, ask her. She wants you to.) last night at a pretty good place recommended by Mr. Rick Steves himself. All hail "Travels in Europe".

The train station in Rome today was RI-diculous, police everywhere and every train late, as it was one of the bigger travel days of the year. Thanks to our Eurail passes we bypassed the lines, which were longer than Joanna Webb’s hair (forgive the North Augusta analogy) and we headed straight to Venice. VENICE- let me give you the lowdown here. This city is nuts. Absolutely nuts, you get off the train and we had to take a bus, but wait. No not a normal bus, this is a boat which they call a bus, to take us to our hostel in the heart of the city, but you can’t walk there because there isn’t a bridge. Venice is also in flood season, which means pretty much that we’ll walk on planks wherever we go. It’s a pretty expensive city, as everything has to come in on boat.

Shoutout to Erskine students everywhere, who are currently attending their first day of J-term classes. Don’t miss learning ‘How to be a Rock Hipster’, because who could teach you better than the great Nolan Purvis. Third Floor Carnegie, break Bethany in nicely. J But really guys, have fun in class… we’ll be thinking of you tramping about Europe!

How to Have a good New Year’s in Rome: 2006 Edition

1. The buses stop running at midnight, so don’t try to go out unless you want to walk thirty minutes home.
2. Every restaurant in Rome turns into a 5 star, 70 euros a plate restaurant on New Years Eve, and every Italian in a fifty mile radius puts on their clubbing clothes, dresses to the nines and pays the cash.
3. If you don’t go out for New Years because of Reason #1, your hostel will have a bar/restaurant which is hosting such a party as is mentioned in #2, and because all the Italians are drunk, you as two young Americans will be invited in to the aforementioned party and subsequently given Italian lessons and hang out with one Australian stoner and eleven guys from Brazil.
4. While the New Years countdown is occurring, it is apparently Brazilian tradition to spray you down with champagne.
5. Then they chunk the bottles, but this is an Italian tradition. The streets of Rome were COVERED with broken glass.
6. It is necessary, to avoid overly forward attention by the Italian/Brazilian male population, to duck out of the dinner/dance described in #2-#4, head back to your hostel room and get some sleep so that, like a good resident of the Eternal City, you might catch some quality time with Pope Benedict in the morning.
   

So Italy has not been so bad, a tad bit rainy, but overall extremely fun. Internet is excruciatingly expensive here, and it’s fun to see how the different hostel we are at have different characters. The hostel here in Venice is an old factory converted, and it’s got a bit of an industrial feel. The Rome hostel was kind of a camping experience, which was a complete switch from the trendy, warm atmosphere which we got on the Plaza del Sol in Madrid. (By the way, if Ryan Bowles happens to read this, we met a guy that knows you while we were in Rome, he’s a senior at NC State… and I can’t remember his name but he definitely knew what Erskine was and that was exciting. Just thought I’d write it down before I forgot.) But anyways, MTV Europe Hits is on in the living room here, and being as such music is playing… the internet café down the street is screaming my name so that I can post this stuff. Hope your New Years was wonderful, love to you all!

Ciao,
Sarah Hope