Home Sweet HOME (ciao, home sweet rome)

The last night in Rome was a huge success. I accomplished 2.5 of my 3 goals. Yes, I somehow managed to pack everything into 2 suitcases and a backpack. Yes, I did not sleep (well, I took a 45 minute nap, but other than that nada). No, I did not swim in the Trevi Fountain. I did dip my hand in, though. It was definitely worth the police blowing whistles at us. Here’s what went down the last night in “The Scip”.

tour of roma!

We all got back from the lunch and were pretty tired. We rested, rehydrated, then decided we HAD to get pizza from the pizzeria across the street one last time. It was just too good not to have. I’m definitely going to miss having delicious homemade pizza 10 steps away. SO Debbie got 4 pizzas, and we all ate and were happy. Ashley and I split one (saving room for the gelato later). Yummmm I miss it already!

After dinner was our Tour de Roma. We wanted to visit all the major sites one last time and take pictures in front of all of them - I mean, it’s a MUST DO. Tara had the incredible idea of us all wearing our “I (heart) Roma” shirts to make the trek. We had each bought one during our time here, and we decided it was perfect. It would be absolutely hilarious to walk around with identical shirts (except for the background color being different - teal, black, pink, and white) because we would look like the typical tourists. We had to re-live our first few weeks here, and this was the ideal way to do it. We all looked hilarious walking around, like a mini tour group all together. But instead of the usual matching-shirt tour groups of little children or old people, we were 5 girls in their 20s. Debbie and I started a count for how many times we got cat-called at. It seems that the obvious tourists get cat-called even more than any every-day girl. Who would have known? We encountered some interesting moments (“I love Roma, I love YOU,” etc). It was worth the goofy t-shirts fo sho.

Our tour started at Piazza del Popolo, then to the Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, and ending with Piazza Navona. We had tons of fun being really awkward asking people to take our picture, playing along with the vendors trying to sell us blinking sunglasses or laser pointers, and just being all together for one last night. The Spanish Steps looked beautiful with the flowers set up! We considered trying our plan of swimming in the Trevi, but there were hundreds of people there that night and police were everywhere, so we just threw in a coin one last time and dipped our fingers in when we though the police weren’t looking. At the Pantheon we took a little detour back to the 40+ gelato flavor place. This time, I got limone and grapefruit. Mmmm. Great last gelato stop.

Once we made it to Piazza Navona, we were pretty beat. We sat on the fence around the fountain and reminisced, people watched, and talked about our plan for the rest of the night. It was such a beautiful night, and I really love Bernini’s Four Rivers Fountain in the middle of the Piazza. That’s the one I sketched for class when the group of little Italian kids stood around and watched a few weeks ago. This night, there were so many cute little kids running around. One little boy and a girl were flirting and playing - it was sooo adorable. They were probably only 2 or 3 (the boy was a little older - 4?). Precious.

After awhile of taking in every last feeling of Roma, we slowly made our way back to the apartment. The plan was to stay up all night, so we started the movie Beastly (the modern day ‘Beauty and the Beast’ movie). Tara and Ashley went to bed pretty soon after we started, so Kaylie, Debbie, and I finished it. Afterwards, we wrote a goodbye letter to Louise (our doorman) since we loved him and didn’t get to say goodbye! I still wasn’t tired and I had a lot to do still, so I stayed up while Kaylie and Debbie passed out after the movie.

making pancakes at 5 am - last meal in the scip :(

By this time it was a little after 2, so I closed my eyes for about 45 minutes to get a little power nap in, then got up and did my last yoga practice in “the scip” in Rome. It was a really great practice, I’m so happy that I got up to do it because my body haaaates the soreness that comes from traveling. If I do a little yoga and meditation before it is always a smoother traveling experience. After I finished it was about 4:30, so I took a nice long (and much needed) shower and finished packing.

At 5am, everyone’s alarm went off. After slight mumbling, everyone started moving. Debbie blasted some music from GLEE (our apartment’s favorite show), which helped get us going. Deb and Kaylie headed to the kitchen to start our last breakfast together - a pancake feast! Tara and Ashley were moving a little slow while I finished packing, but by 5:30 we were all in the kitchen enjoying a wonderful last meal together. I love my roommates. I miss them so much already. Too TOO much. My flight was the first to depart, so I had to call a cab and head to the airport alone. The rest of them were taking a shuttle together in a couple hours. It was SO SAD saying goodbye. I was a mess. We all were. While I waited for my cab outside, Debbie kept checking on me out the window of our apartment. When the taxi got to the apartment, I got in the cab and waved goodbye as everyone waved out of our apartment window.

goodbye hugs

Usually it’s about a 45 minute drive to the airport, but my cab driver got me there in 20 minutes. Not going to lie, I was a little nervous haha. At least I had plenty of time to get to my gate, and good thing because it took an hour and a half to get there! Checking in was crazy and slow and disorganized (typical Italians), but I made it with about 30 minutes to spare. The cab driver probably thought I was crazy because my eyes were all teary when he picked me up, and on the way to the airport I kept getting emotional in the back seat...sorryi’mnotsorry. I waited at the airport for my flight, saw a few people that I knew and had semi-comprehensible conversations with them (everyone was deliriously tired), then boarded the plane. I slept pretty much the whole flight to New York.

In Newark I had a few hours layover, so once I got through customs I got my first American snack -  A SMOOTHIE! Yum. I called a few people, made sure India and my dad would pick me up at the airport when I landed in Richmond, then watched a movie while I waited for my second flight. In the airport, there was a place to get "Italian Food".. when I passed it I almost gagged. It's gonna take awhile to get used to America's version of Italian food (super oily, not very appetizing looking, etc). Oh well, I guess I'll just have to go back to Italy SOON!

My second flight was quick. I got into Richmond around six, and India and Dad were there waiting for me! India drove me home from the airport because she got her learners a few weeks ago. I was a little nervous, but she actually did a great job! My first night home consisted of dinner at Chipotle with India, a stop at Target (I missed it so much), unpacking, and doing laundry - with a dryer! YAY!!

It's so weird being back home, it's almost like having a reverse-culture-shock. Everything seems so different. It's weird seeing buildings that aren't super old and pretty looking haha. I'm so happy to be back and to be able to see all my loved ones :) BUT Roma has definitely not said goodbye to me forever.

Thank you so much for reading my blog! Hope you enjoyed all the stories and adventures. Love and light to you all, can't wait to see you in the upcoming weeks ! ( I hope!)