Have you ever seen one of those movies where they go on a trip and it's just a series of crazy things happening right after one another? That was my weekend in Rome.
Last Thursday, Amanda, Mallory, Erika, Desiree, and I left campus to embark on our first weekend trip! In order to get to the airport, we had to walk a ways to get to the bus stop as taking a taxi to the airport is pretty expensive. Well, we got the buses wrong and ended up walking pretty much the entire way to the airport until we caught a taxi and squeezed 5 girls and all our luggage into a small sedan for the remainder of the trek. From there we had a nice, short flight to Athens, a quick layover, then we were finally in Rome!
Once we made it to Rome we got some bus tickets to take us into the city so we could get settled into our Airbnb. Little did we know then, our Airbnb host changed the location! We went to the original location where we spent a good chunk of time trying to get in contact with our host. Luckily, there was an incredible restaurant nearby that had amazing Italian food. Our waiter was great and helped redirect us to where our new Airbnb location was. . . Which happened to be right in the middle of the city! It was a total win as the original was about 45 minutes by bus to the city center. Our Airbnb was. . . interesting. It was small with one queen(?) size bed and a futon. For the five of us. The location was great, as was the price, so being a little cramped was alright.
Friday we set out early to visit Vatican City and go through the museum and Sistine Chapel. It was breathtaking. I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but it definitely surpassed all my expectations. The intricacy of the art and architecture was incredible. I think we spent about 4 hours going through the museum and Sistine Chapel, but it was worth every minute. Room after room was filled with paintings, from the floor to the ceiling. All unique in their own way and all equally beautiful. Michelangelo's paintings within the Sistine Chapel were stunning. It took a bit to take everything in and it was crucial to as no photography was allowed.
After the Vatican, we had a picnic in one of the parks nearby with some meat and cheeses from a local deli. It was all super good! We then toured some more around Rome until we finally ventured back to our Airbnb and got cleaned up for dinner. On our way out, we saw a few Americans our age fumbling with the locks on the gate. We talked for a bit and found out they also booked our room. Alfonso, our host, went MIA when we came to the realization he double booked. We tried to help as much as we could and let them hang out at our place for a bit, then took them all out to dinner with us. Turns out they were all study abroad students from the New York City's Culinary Institute study at a university at the tip of the boot in Italy. We all quickly became friends, got some good professional foodie tips, and got our situation figured out.
Saturday's agenda was to go to the Colosseum, Pantheon, Spanish Steps, and whatever else we stumbled across. The wait for the Colosseum was a monotonous two hours. Not ideal, but it was well worth it! It was hard to wrap my head around that something that large (think Camp Randall or Jack Trice) was constructed without the use of any modern technologies. Incredible. After the Colosseum, we set out for some lunch but were more than slightly disappointed in the place we chose as the service was terrible and the food was very Americanized. We then began to just tour the area when I came across something incredible. . . A vintage clothing market! Burberry, Versace, Moschino, Gucci, Fendi, and Prada. All vintage. All good priced. I was in heaven. Once I finally persuaded myself out (Literally. I could've stayed much, much longer.), we went to the most fabulous gelato shop ever. Tons of great, fresh flavors.
By the time the evening rolled around and we got to the Spanish Steps I was beat, so I took in the view from the bottom and did some retail therapy. I have a shopping problem, can you tell? Much to our surprise, we ran back into our American friends! Out of the entire city and the millions of people there, we randomly came across each other again. Once we exchanged our final goodbyes (For real this time) we began making our way to Momart's, an Italian restaurant that's a local favorite, to meet up with Costas, his sister, and his sister's friend. For 12€ you got access to the all-you-can-eat buffet and a drink. It definitely wasn't like a buffet you'd see in the States, everything was fresh and very well put together.
Now, remember when I said this trip was a series of crazy events? Yeah, this is where it gets interesting. After dinner, we said our goodbyes to Costa, Maria, and Katie to head to a McDonald's (lol) to charge our phones for a bit. Did I mention we didn't have a room for that night? Our flight the next morning was pretty early so we figured we could stay busy all night and then just head to the airport when need be. In theory, it wasn't a bad idea considering we didn't leave the restaurant until 11:15. After sitting in McDonald's for a bit, and not being able to charge our phones since they turned the electricity off going to the outlets, we headed towards the area our Airbnb was as we knew there was a good cafe we could hang out at. It was closed. Everything was closed. We toured the streets for a while until we finally headed to the hotel where we stored our bags for the day to then head to the airport. We hopped on the bus extremely exhausted and just ready to head back to Thessaloniki. Once we got to the airport, I finally was able to take my makeup off and clean myself up a bit. It was nice. Things seemed to be going well. Well, while trying to find our check-in area, we realized we were at the wrong airport! To say we went into a panic was a bit of an understatement. While everyone else was trying to find a solution, I did what comes natural, I called my dad. I'm not sure how he really could have helped, but it helped calm my nerves a bit during this hectic situation. Luckily, we had plenty of time as we got to the airport plenty early. We were able to catch a cab to take us to the correct airport that was about 30 minutes away. Our driver was not messing around, he kept a steady pace of 145kph (About 90mph) on the freeway. We finally made it to our airport with enough time to take a short nap before our flight. Once we got back to Thessaloniki, we got the bus system wrong, once again, and practically walked the entire way back to campus. To say we were exhausted is an understatement. I think we were all asleep immediately after getting back, at least I was.
The moral of the story? ALWAYS double-check which airport you're flying out of and only stay at Airbnb's with very reputable hosts. It was a hectic weekend, but that's how stories are made. This week, we're headed to Santorini and Crete! Hopefully, things go more smoothly this time.
Stay tuned!!
- Andrea