Walking out of the train station into the city of Rome was kind of a surreal experience for me. It was bustling with people from all over the world. My clothes felt so dirty and grimy that I immediately searched for a laundromat to clean up. When I found one, I walked in and changed into my underarmour and shorts and threw my only pair of jeans, four shirts, and a few pairs of socks in the wash. After washing my clothes and smelling nice and clean, I found my hostel. It was in a huge office building on the second floor. Right by the stairs, there was a door that I had to go through that barely fit the width of me. While approaching the front desk, I was greeted with a "WHO YOU ARE? WHO YOU ARE?" by a troll-like Italian man. I introduced myself and paid for three nights, then was led to my room by his daughter. When I opened the door, I discovered two bunk beds on both sides of the room, with three of those beds occupied by college boys chilling out with their computers, stripped to nothing but their tightie whities. They looked up and their mouths gaped, as well as did mine. Silence befell the room. I realized that I had somehow been booked in the men's dorms and was going to be stuck with those guys for the next three nights.
I had a right to be nervous. The three guys didn't care if they were in their underwear. One of them hopped off the top bunk, gave me a kiss, and introduced himself from Argentina. The guy below was from Argentina as well, and the guy that had the bottom bunk on my side of the room was from Brazil. They all spoke Spanish and very broken English. I placed my stuff on the top bunk and conversed with the naked men before taking a nap. When I woke, the naked guys were still naked. They were picking out clothes to go "party" and asked if I would go with them. I declined and said that I was meeting up with a couple of my friends who live in Rome.
A couple years back, I had a boyfriend who was on a mission in Rome and introduced me to his friends, via Facebook. I had only conversed with them over facebook but never met them in person, until that night. Meeting them was so cool! We met at the Termini and from there, got on the metro and headed to the Colosseo. I knew we were seeing the Colosseum, but when I saw it... I was just in shock. I had just emerged from the underground metro and was expecting to be walking a bit before seeing the famous ancient stadium. Instead, I walked up the steps and nearly fainted. The Colosseum was towering right before my eyes, in all its glory. Being nighttime, the giant glowed with the golden hues of the lights. Just across from the Colosseum, there laid the ruins of Fallen Rome. Broken stones and ancient columns were illuminated by the moonlight, casting ghostly shadows across the ground.
Nicolas and Saul walked around nonchalantly, guiding me to the World War II memorial building and many piazzas, while I stumbled around in amazement at every turn. We stopped for delicious gelatos and enjoyed getting to know each other in person. Sadly, halfway into the night, the last of my hearing aid batteries died. I was left with no sound and no way to communicate, except to read lips. It being dark and the two boys having accents, reading lips did not have much effect at all. However, Nicolas and Saul were both so kind and kept patience with me asking them to repeat everything they said more than several times. After a while, the two boys dropped me off at the hostel and I headed up to my room to find it empty. Relieved that I didn't have to deal with the South American boys, I crashed in bed. Around 2 AM, the boys arrived to the hostel, completely drunk. They woke me up by flipping on the lights, jumping on the beds, and stripping down to their underwear while shouting drunkenly in Spanish. Fortunately, they all passed out after a few minutes.
The next morning, I met up with Nicolas. He took me to the Vatican City. It was pretty grand, with two huge fountains located in the center and surrounded by statues of Saints on top of the columns. We entered the church and saw the statue of Mary holding Jesus after he was taken down from the cross. It was so beautiful and detailed, with her expression that of a mother who had just lost a child. Mary was huge in proportion to Jesus. It gave the feeling that Mary was a mother holding her little child that has just passed away, even when that little child was the Son of God. I am constantly amazed by how detailed and accurate Michelangelo's work is! Unfortunately, I never got to see the Sistine Chapel. It was about 35 euro to enter, and I was totally broke. I believe I will get a chance to see it when I study abroad in Spring 2013, so I am not too disappointed. After the Vatican, Nicolas and I headed to the Pantheon. The well preserved ancient building was so impressive, loaded with emotion and history, it instantly became one of my top favorite places in Italy. I could have stared at it for hours. The architecture of the Pantheon was simple, yet powerful, and completely knocked me off my feet. I saw it about four more times during my stay in Rome, and it never ceased to amaze me every time.
That night, I headed to bed early and ignored my South American roommates' begging to join them with their partying. At 3 AM, they all stumbled in the room, irrevocably drunk, again. They undressed, blundered around the room, throwing beer cans, and shaking the bunks just to annoy me. I rolled over to see what the heck they were doing, and saw one of the Argentian guys hugging the other and patting his back, while saying, "I love you, man." I rolled my eyes and turned over and slept, very poorly, through the night. In the morning, they were completely passed out. I looked around the hostel room and it was just completely trashed. Crushed beer cans lay everywhere, empty vodka bottles set on the tables, ripped up paper and garbage were strewn across the room, and the boys were disgustingly drooling all over themselves. I tip toed outside to meet Saul. I had asked Saul if he would take me to the Latter Day Saints church in Rome. I've always wanted to go to church in Italy. There's just something really feel-good about going to church where a language other than English is spoken. While we were on the bus, Saul impressed me by diligently learning the ABC's in American Sign Language. I always love it when someone learns sign language so they can help me understand better!
Church in Italian was awesome. The people were so kind and cheerful. I loved everything about it! After church, me and Saul were absolutely starving. We walked around Rome for over an hour before finding a place to eat since it was Sunday and practically everything was closed. After eating, we headed out and Saul guided me to several piazzas and landmarks. After it became dark, we headed to the Pantheon again, and to Piazza Navona. The piazza was full of talented artists selling their work. Several of the artists were working on paintings and drawings as they were selling, and it was so amazing seeing their work in progress. As an artist seeing so many talented artists in one place, I felt so tiny and untalented. I couldn't help it... there was just so much beautiful art everywhere by so many different people! After resting at Piazza Navona, we headed to Fontana Trevi. I was thinking that this fontana would be just a... fountain. Nothing too special really. But when I turned around the corner, my breath was literally taken away. It was nighttime, and the fontana was illuminated by the lights. The statues of the gods seemed to practically come alive with the reflection of the water moving across them. A thundering waterfall in the center with a series of smaller waterfalls on the sides, crashed into a shimmering pool of clear water. Thousands of glittering coins with hopeful wishes wished upon them laid at the mosaic base of the pool. Rome was amazing me at every single turn. This was another place that I could have just stood and started at for hours, if it wasn't for the crowd. Perhaps, one day, I will go back and wait until the early hours of the morning while it's still dark and just sit by the edge of Fontana Trevi. I'll throw my wishes into the mystical waters. Some say that wishes don't come true. Even so, those who don't believe in magic, will never find it. Standing there under the moon in Rome with the waters of Fontana Trevi reflecting across my skin, I made a wish upon a brass coin and tossed it into the magical abyss with a childlike spirit, secretly believing in magic.
I had a right to be nervous. The three guys didn't care if they were in their underwear. One of them hopped off the top bunk, gave me a kiss, and introduced himself from Argentina. The guy below was from Argentina as well, and the guy that had the bottom bunk on my side of the room was from Brazil. They all spoke Spanish and very broken English. I placed my stuff on the top bunk and conversed with the naked men before taking a nap. When I woke, the naked guys were still naked. They were picking out clothes to go "party" and asked if I would go with them. I declined and said that I was meeting up with a couple of my friends who live in Rome.
A couple years back, I had a boyfriend who was on a mission in Rome and introduced me to his friends, via Facebook. I had only conversed with them over facebook but never met them in person, until that night. Meeting them was so cool! We met at the Termini and from there, got on the metro and headed to the Colosseo. I knew we were seeing the Colosseum, but when I saw it... I was just in shock. I had just emerged from the underground metro and was expecting to be walking a bit before seeing the famous ancient stadium. Instead, I walked up the steps and nearly fainted. The Colosseum was towering right before my eyes, in all its glory. Being nighttime, the giant glowed with the golden hues of the lights. Just across from the Colosseum, there laid the ruins of Fallen Rome. Broken stones and ancient columns were illuminated by the moonlight, casting ghostly shadows across the ground.
Nicolas and Saul walked around nonchalantly, guiding me to the World War II memorial building and many piazzas, while I stumbled around in amazement at every turn. We stopped for delicious gelatos and enjoyed getting to know each other in person. Sadly, halfway into the night, the last of my hearing aid batteries died. I was left with no sound and no way to communicate, except to read lips. It being dark and the two boys having accents, reading lips did not have much effect at all. However, Nicolas and Saul were both so kind and kept patience with me asking them to repeat everything they said more than several times. After a while, the two boys dropped me off at the hostel and I headed up to my room to find it empty. Relieved that I didn't have to deal with the South American boys, I crashed in bed. Around 2 AM, the boys arrived to the hostel, completely drunk. They woke me up by flipping on the lights, jumping on the beds, and stripping down to their underwear while shouting drunkenly in Spanish. Fortunately, they all passed out after a few minutes.
The next morning, I met up with Nicolas. He took me to the Vatican City. It was pretty grand, with two huge fountains located in the center and surrounded by statues of Saints on top of the columns. We entered the church and saw the statue of Mary holding Jesus after he was taken down from the cross. It was so beautiful and detailed, with her expression that of a mother who had just lost a child. Mary was huge in proportion to Jesus. It gave the feeling that Mary was a mother holding her little child that has just passed away, even when that little child was the Son of God. I am constantly amazed by how detailed and accurate Michelangelo's work is! Unfortunately, I never got to see the Sistine Chapel. It was about 35 euro to enter, and I was totally broke. I believe I will get a chance to see it when I study abroad in Spring 2013, so I am not too disappointed. After the Vatican, Nicolas and I headed to the Pantheon. The well preserved ancient building was so impressive, loaded with emotion and history, it instantly became one of my top favorite places in Italy. I could have stared at it for hours. The architecture of the Pantheon was simple, yet powerful, and completely knocked me off my feet. I saw it about four more times during my stay in Rome, and it never ceased to amaze me every time.
That night, I headed to bed early and ignored my South American roommates' begging to join them with their partying. At 3 AM, they all stumbled in the room, irrevocably drunk, again. They undressed, blundered around the room, throwing beer cans, and shaking the bunks just to annoy me. I rolled over to see what the heck they were doing, and saw one of the Argentian guys hugging the other and patting his back, while saying, "I love you, man." I rolled my eyes and turned over and slept, very poorly, through the night. In the morning, they were completely passed out. I looked around the hostel room and it was just completely trashed. Crushed beer cans lay everywhere, empty vodka bottles set on the tables, ripped up paper and garbage were strewn across the room, and the boys were disgustingly drooling all over themselves. I tip toed outside to meet Saul. I had asked Saul if he would take me to the Latter Day Saints church in Rome. I've always wanted to go to church in Italy. There's just something really feel-good about going to church where a language other than English is spoken. While we were on the bus, Saul impressed me by diligently learning the ABC's in American Sign Language. I always love it when someone learns sign language so they can help me understand better!
Church in Italian was awesome. The people were so kind and cheerful. I loved everything about it! After church, me and Saul were absolutely starving. We walked around Rome for over an hour before finding a place to eat since it was Sunday and practically everything was closed. After eating, we headed out and Saul guided me to several piazzas and landmarks. After it became dark, we headed to the Pantheon again, and to Piazza Navona. The piazza was full of talented artists selling their work. Several of the artists were working on paintings and drawings as they were selling, and it was so amazing seeing their work in progress. As an artist seeing so many talented artists in one place, I felt so tiny and untalented. I couldn't help it... there was just so much beautiful art everywhere by so many different people! After resting at Piazza Navona, we headed to Fontana Trevi. I was thinking that this fontana would be just a... fountain. Nothing too special really. But when I turned around the corner, my breath was literally taken away. It was nighttime, and the fontana was illuminated by the lights. The statues of the gods seemed to practically come alive with the reflection of the water moving across them. A thundering waterfall in the center with a series of smaller waterfalls on the sides, crashed into a shimmering pool of clear water. Thousands of glittering coins with hopeful wishes wished upon them laid at the mosaic base of the pool. Rome was amazing me at every single turn. This was another place that I could have just stood and started at for hours, if it wasn't for the crowd. Perhaps, one day, I will go back and wait until the early hours of the morning while it's still dark and just sit by the edge of Fontana Trevi. I'll throw my wishes into the mystical waters. Some say that wishes don't come true. Even so, those who don't believe in magic, will never find it. Standing there under the moon in Rome with the waters of Fontana Trevi reflecting across my skin, I made a wish upon a brass coin and tossed it into the magical abyss with a childlike spirit, secretly believing in magic.
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