Lasties

THE END of my Roman adventure :(

First, we had a beautiful Roman day. It was perfect. I saw things I had always wanted to see & the weather was beautiful. And it was December.

It started with a walk to Villa Borghese. Lindsay and I happened upon a giant Christmas tree in Piazza Venezia and then a practically empty Spanish Steps. Villa Borghese was beautiful and green. Basically it’s a giant park filled with a Villa, museums, a zoo, a dog park, fountains. So much grass, so many trees, so many leaves. Pretty things. We got some paninis at the zoo garden café, then we went to the Galleria Borghese for the Caravaggio-Bacon exhibit. I love Caravaggio’s paintings, but I’m not so sure about Bacon. His works are kinda creepy, though the exhibit was pretty interesting pairing the two artists. My favorite part of the museum was Bernini’s statues. Apollo & Daphne was my absolute fav. From there, we meandered our way around Piazza del Popolo & then towards St. Peter’s. Our goal: watch the sunset from the top of the dome. But first, we had to climb 551 stairs to get there. What a hike! It was amazing up there; we had a 360 degree view of Rome. Then we witnessed one of the prettiest sunsets I’ve seen. And THEN it was 551 more stairs back down to the ground :) Quite an amazingly exhausting day.

Friday, was our last studio in Rome. After noon, we finished our Trastevere walk and finally made the hike up the gorgeous Gianiculum Hill. There were some really awesome sights, like the Tempietto, and la Fontana dell’Acqua. We had some amazing views of Rome before heading back to the apartment. That night we enjoyed our last Friday Family Dinner by inviting over a few other friends and having lasagna! It was a very yummy conclusion to our cooking adventures here. Saturday was spent relaxing. I deemed it my kindof-birthday so I could celebrate it in Rome. In the afternoon, Liz and I ran to the grocery store (I’ll miss you TuoDi) and bought the following necessary items: chocolate bar, chocolate wafers, butter cookies, nutella, and spumante. We popped some bubbly and chowed down on cookies— epitome of a perfect afternoon. That night, we got a group together and went to eat at this awesome spaghetti place called L’archetto, to celebrate my “Roman Birthday”. You pick a partner and order 3 different types of spaghetti and it comes to you in a divided plate with 3 portions. Liz and I had a salmon one, an eggplant, and a sausage-mushroom pasta. They all have cute names too but I can’t remember them. And then as a necessary birthday treat, we went to Della Palma for gelato. Possibly my last time!? :( I had the Sorbeto Della Palma (fruity sorbet), Cioccolato dell’Arancia (not my first time having chocolate orange), and Kit Kat (which honestly tasted like Dunk-a-roos, remember those?).

Sarah and I have been trying to celebrate Hanukkah this week, even with our lack of menorah/candles. Friday night we made a menorah out of a row of shot glasses (and a larger glass in the center) with 2 tea lights in the appropriate spots. Saturday night we visited the giant menorahs in the Jewish ghetto near studio that were lit for the 2nd night. And like every good Jew during Hanukkah, I went with Lindsay and Paige to Sunday morning mass at St. Peter’s. (haha) I wasn’t the only one who didn’t understand what they were saying; it was all in Italian. Mass at the Vatican is only 30 minutes and surprisingly casual so it wasn’t super awkward when I didn’t kneel or take the wine. It was interesting to go just to say I went lol.

The rest of the day was an attempt at packing and trying not to freeze. It felt pretty cold that day but we had to tough it out so we could gear ourselves up for 20 degree cooler weather in approx 4 days. Ahh! Also, the third night of Hanukkah...which entailed 2 tea lights, one burning piece of paper, and incense in the middle. I also got to celebrate my birthday again when my roommates surprised me with a gelato cake! :)

Our very last few days involved our final critiques, last minute shopping, and felafel and gelato stops. Saying goodbye to every monument, every store, every restaurant. Attempting to not get pooped on by those crazy swarms of birds. I am lucky to say I made it out unscathed. And there were also nights 4 and 5 of Hanukkah (stove burners + tea light and skinny candles in shot glasses filled with flour). Don't forget the packing, re-packing, weighing of the suitcase, throwing things away, and packing again.

And then all of a sudden, it was time to leave the apartment for the last time. We bundled ourselves into the layers upon layers of clothing we were donning to avoid having too heavy of bags for our RyanAir flight to Dublin. We took a train from Trastevere to Termini, and from there, the Terravision bus to Ciampino airport. Then it was time to finally say Arrivederci Roma! We had ourselves a fun sleepover in the Dublin airport, this time on comfy chairs next to Starbucks, quite a step up from 4 months ago on the cold tile floor.

In the morning, we took our 6 1/2 hour flight from Dublin to Newark (where we could USE OUR CELLPHONES AGAIN!) and then Newark to Chicago. And we were finally home. It all happened so fast and the next thing I knew, everyone was speaking English and water was free, and I was running into the arms of Nathan and my dad who met me at O'Hare. And I was HOME.