Friday, 11/18 @ 8:05pm Rome, Italy
Well, it has been a few days and a lot has happened, but I just didn't have time to write until now, so I'll end up spliting this into two seperate posts because it will be long.
On the second day I was in Rome, I decided to start with the Colossuem and then move on to the Roman Forum and Palatino. The Colossuem is exactly what you think it will be like and I just had to spend a few minutes looking at it. Like I heard another tourist say, you've heard about it your whole life and now you are seeing it and it's real, but it's still not so real. While a bunch of my friends had told me before that you can see everything from the outside, so don't pay to go in, I paid to go in and I'm glad I did! You are pretty much walking the same steps that Ancient Romans walked and I can't believe I almost missed it! The stadium can seat 50,000, but most of the seats are now gone and it's just the foundation that remains. After walking in there for about 45 minutes, I walked out and went to the giant park next to it (with the same ticket) and spend about an hour and a half walking around a bunch of ruins, which are the Palatino and the Roman Forum. It's really pretty and it's cool knowing that you are again walking in the same place as many people before you, but after awhile it just is the same thing over and over again. Since the day was still young, I walked over to the Capital building and walked aorund there for a few minutes. It's this giant white structure in the middle of the city, so it stands out, and in front there is a giant statue of a man on a horse. And while everything is so interesting, I just have been getting impatient with other tourist and just can't be bothered.
After that, I walked down the big shopping street, Via del Corso, and had fun looking at the little shops, and big shops! I stopped in the makeup store my friend Mariella is in love with, but it is exactly like what we have at home, so I just had fun looking. I also went in the British Accessory store again (a different store) which is called Accessorize (the same store Kate Middleton shops at) and I ended up buying a purse. I mean, when in Rome! After that, I went back to the hostel since it was already getting dark. On my way back, I did stop at the Trevi Fountain and throw my coin in. My new friends think I'm just the funniest person ever because when they asked me if I enjoyed it, I was like, yeah... it's really nice, but you look at it, take a picture, throw a coin, and you're pretty much done. I wasn't trying to be funny, but they just thought that was hilarious.
The next day, I had a bunch of stuff planned out, but I woke up felling absolutely miserable. I think since I've been so isolated from people that the second I got to the hostel in Rome, I just picked up whatever the first person had. And this time, it attacked hard. My throat was so sore and I couldn't breathe, so I spent the entire day in my bed or watching movies, except when I went to Termini to get orange juice and stop at the drugstore to get some druuuuugs. Funny though, while I was being sick in the common room, I ended up talking to another girl from AUSTIN. She had litereally arrived an hour before in Italy from her Austin flight and we became best buds. Later that night, when I was feeling better, I went to dinner with her and another guy we picked up from the hostel.
