Tre Canadesi Soli a Roma

Sorry there’s not much to report this week, besides school and going out with friends in Velletri (The town I go to school in), I haven’t had many opportunities to explore different areas of Italy. My expectations before coming to Italy were a lot different than the reality here, both positive and negative. I’ve realized that Gioia and I had different reasons for doing an exchange. For me, I decided to do an exchange for an opportunity to travel and explore a new country and culture, for Gioia, improving her English was her priority. This week I talked to James and Jill, the other two Canadians doing this exchange, and they felt the same way. We decided that we would travel by ourselves to Rome to experience more of the city and give our exchange partners a day to catch up on school work and friends without having to worry about us. When I asked Gioia and her mom, Mirna, they were a little wary of us three traveling alone but eventually, after confirming it was okay with my parents, they said it was okay.

I woke up early Wednesday morning and got ready for the day. Jame’s host mom picked Jill and I up and drove us to the train station, we made sure to say grazie per averci accompagnato (thank you for driving us). I was prepared and bought our tickets the night before, learned my lesson the hard way last time we tried to go to Rome with the school and missed the train because of the ticket kiosk. Once we found our seats, the hour ride from Stazione di Velletri to Roma Termini went quickly. We talked the whole way there about our experiences in Italy with our families and school.  When we got off the train around 8:30, the station was packed with people because of everyone trying to get to work and school, once we were on the streets it was less crowded. We used google maps to get us to the colosseum and found a cafe to eat breakfast, looking back it probably wasn’t the smartest idea to eat near the most popular monument in Rome… pretty pricey. James and Jill each got two croissants, one chocolate and one pistachio and I ordered fruit pancakes, they were good but not worth 8 euros… we justified it by saying it was a once and a lifetime experience.

                                                                 

After breakfast, we walked around the colosseum and took pictures. We didn’t really have a plan and we didn’t need to be anywhere until much later, so, we took our time and enjoyed walking the streets of Rome’s city centre. We shopped and walked around until about 11ish when we decided we should make our way towards the Trevi Fountain since I hadn’t seen it yet and on our way we stopped for gelato in a cute cafe (who am I kidding, all the cafes are cute in Rome). This was my first time trying gelato in Italy… IT WAS DELICIOUS. Gelato is ice cream in English but if you call gelato ice cream in front of an Italian they would be sure to correct you. It is lower in fat because it contains less cream and more milk, it’s also churned slower which gives it a richer flavour. I tried chocolate and mango and both were amazing. After obsessing over my gelato and taking pictures like I was a food blogger (I think thats my dream job, I could talk about food all day), we found the Trevi Fountain. It was different from the other monuments in Rome and by far the busiest, thankfully Jill was determined to get a good view so we pushed our way to the front. Once I was used to the overwhelming crowd I took in the detail in the fountain, it was beautiful. We didn’t stay for long because of the amount of people but I had seen a roof top bar on social media and made it my mission to find it. I found the building it was located on top of and the staff outside were trying to pull people into the cafe part, I told them I wanted the roof top bar but they said it was closed and it opened in an hour, I said okay and started to walk away but they stopped me and told me it was the second door on the right. We walked up what felt like 10 flights of stairs and we were one of two groups on the roof. The view was nice because in the corner we could see the fountain. We ordered drinks and had “aperitivo”, we didn’t want to order a full meal because we knew it would be expensive because of the view. 

We did more shopping and walked along the streets… if you are my travel and tourism class, maybe skip this paragraph. The drinking age in Italy is 18 but they don’t check for id, I’ve ordered drinks in different places and I’ve never been asked my age. We were in a store that sold oil, coffee, and alcohol, the staff asked us if we wanted a sample of some sort of cream liquor, we said sure and I choose the pistachio flavour. As the lady was poring the little samples she asked how old we were, without hesitation Jill said 19 but then she asked for id, I told her I left my passport at home, which was true but I always carry a photocopy in my wallet for id. Thankfully she believed me and gave us the samples, or maybe she knew but just didn’t care, I couldn’t tell. It was very smooth and recently pistachio has been my favourite flavour, in the end it was worth it for them because James bought some to bring home to his sister.

After that close call, we looked for a spot for lunch so we weren’t on an empty stomach. At lunch time (1-3ish in Italy), there are people standing out side restaurants trying to entice people to eat at there restaurant but the problem is, we didn’t know what we wanted or were looking for. We tried to stay away from areas with the popular monuments but in Rome, everywhere you go there’s something famous. We were hungry so we decided on a spot that looked busy because if it’s busy it has to be good. As soon as we sat down the waiter brought us menus and glasses of prosecco, we didn’t order it but the waiter told us it was free. I ordered a pasta called Amatriciana, it was molto buono, Jill ordered carbonara and James got a type of pizza with a name I can’t remember… or pronounce, he couldn’t finish it so Jill and I each had a slice too. James and Jill are the best people to travel with because they have the “you only live once” or “how would we know if we don’t try” mindset so we always try to order new things and try each others to see what we liked. 

After lunch we started walking towards the station to meet up with Jills exchange partner, Livia, and her friends, then we all walked to a university. Livia is a part of a scout group and one of the scout leaders was graduating from university so they came to Rome to surprise him. Livia gave us the choice to sit and watch inside the university or stay outside and explore the campus. Of course, we decided to explore. As we were walking around, I saw a sign with the name of the university and it felt familiar… it was the school Gioias sister, Gaia, attended. I texted Gaia and showed her my location, she immediately found us and we explained why we were just walking around. She was happy to show us her favourite spot near her university to get cannoli while we waited. We ordered chocolate and pistachio cannolis and chatted at the bakery until it was time to head back to meet up with Livia again. We said our goodbyes to Gaia and walked back but by this time I was worried about the time because we had to catch the train at the station. Livia and her friends invited us to go out for dinner at a restaurant in a different town, I had to be back for dinner at Gioias home so I said I shouldn’t but Jill had to stay with Livia and James had to stay because Nicolas sister was a part of scouts so they could go home together after dinner. I was going to take the train home myself after seeing how easy it was in the morning but my problem was getting a ride home from the station since originally I was supposed to go with James. I called Gioia and Mirna to ask if they could pick me up but they said no so I apologized and told them I wouldn’t be able to make it to dinner on time and I ended up going with the rest of the group and finally made it home by 11:30. 

I had a great day exploring Rome with James and Jill and met tons of new people with Livia’s scout group. Traveling in Italy is so cheap and easy with public transit so I’m glad we were able to skip a day of school and take advantage of it. I hope everyone enjoyed their March break at home and I hope to update another blog next week. Ciao per ora amori miei!