Roma

Once we arrived in Rome at 9am we needed to find where our apartment was located.  We took one bus, which was correct but we had no idea what stop to get off at.  Rome’s bus system is not as good as Innsbruck and they do not tell you what stop they are stopping at.  We ended up asking an Italian woman and we had passed our stop by only 1 stop, which was good we asked at that time.  Then once we got to the street we needed to turn down we did not know which way to go.  This friendly lady stopped because she knew we were lost and asked if we needed help and she pointed us in the correct direction.  It was so nice knowing people were willing to help us.  We weren’t able to get into the apartment until almost 12, but we got breakfast and hung out at a bar below the apartment until we got the keys to the apartment.

We dropped off our stuff and then headed straight to the Vatican.  We got a cab there because we were not sure what bus to take and the cab was not that expensive.  In the end, though, we would have been able to walk from our apartment.  Right when we got out of the cab a man walked up to us asking if we wanted a tour of the Vatican.  At first, I was skeptical, but he was willing to give us a group discount and a student discount.  It ended up being 37 euro each for us to skip the line, have a guided tour, see the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter’s Basilica.  I was extremely happy for this because it was about 95 degrees outside and miserable.  The Sistine Chapel was amazing and breathtaking.  We were unable to take pictures inside and people were shhhhhhhing the entire time we were in there.  It was hard to take it all in at once; I could have stayed in there for hours.  After that we saw the Basilica and spent about an hour in there.  It was humungous and there was so much to see.  I took so many pictures inside it isn’t even funny.

After seeing the Vatican we went to get some lunch/dinner, which I called Linner.  We went to a real Italian restaurant and I finally got the Italian pizza I had been wanting.  It was an amazing meal!  We walked back to the apartment after that and saw a few more small sights.  We all chilled out for a bit and then we decided to go downstairs to that bar to get a few drinks.  We felt like we needed to give them our business since they were so nice for letting us use their Wi-Fi earlier that morning before they were even open.  We played cards and had a drink or two and then hit the hay pretty early because we were going to see the Colosseum right when it opened the next day at 8:30.

The Colosseum was amazing!  There were not as many people there because we got there right after it opened and it was not a weekend day, thank goodness.  Carly, Pella, Alex and I went there and Jess and Brittany went to get breakfast since they both had already been.  We spent about an hour in there trying to take it all in, but it doesn’t really hit you until later. 

After the Colosseum we went to catch the hop-on-hop-off bus we booked.  We wanted to use it as transportation around the city and we ended up doing the entire loop that took about 2 hours at first to see as much as we could.  We got off after the loop to get some lunch and then hopped back on to get to the Trevi Fountain.  We went to see the Fountain and then we headed back to our apartment to get ready for dinner and we wanted to rest before walking around at night.

We ate dinner at the bar downstairs from our apartment because their food looked amazing and it was decently priced.  After dinner we wanted to see Rome at night, so we went back to the Trevi Fountain and then went to see the Pantheon and the Spanish steps.  Walking around Rome at night was great!  We stumbled upon a market near the Tiber River right near our apartment in the Trastevere area.  I was in love with Rome and do want to return to see much more than the tourist sites.

The next day was our last day in Rome and we met up with our friend Stanley we met at MCI who goes to school in Canada.  We needed to say our goodbye’s to him because we would not be seeing him back in Innsbruck as he was traveling around Europe.  It was so sad to say goodbye to him, but we had a nice lunch and a great goodbye.  We went back to the apartment to pack our things after lunch and then we got a taxi to the airport to take off to Athens, Greece.

More to come on Greece!! J

Vienna and Elton John!!!

We left for Vienna on June 18 at 9am.  We were all pretty excited to go because we knew this trip was going to be amazing.  Alex, Jess, Brittany and I took a train to Vienna and once we got there we walked around for a bit and dropped off our stuff at Brittany’s friend Leslie’s house.  Alex and I were seeing Elton John that night, so we didn’t want to have all of our stuff on us.  Once it was time to go to the concert, Alex and I split up from Brittany and Jess to find where the concert was.  It was pretty easy to navigate and once we got there it was easy sailing.

Elton John was amazing!!  I had so much fun at that concert and am so happy I saw him live.  It was a bit weird at first because no one was standing up and having fun at the concert, besides me.  Then, at the very end, everyone stood up and started dancing.  I don’t know why they decided to do this when he only had five songs left to sing, but they did.  He sang all the songs I wanted to hear plus more and I will never regret going to that concert.  Our seats ended up being incredible, as well.  After the concert we met up with Brittany, Jess and Leslie at a “beach bar” near the Danube to have a drink and we went back to the apartment shortly after.

The next day in Vienna was fun.  Leslie drove us to this lake outside of Vienna and we had a nice lunch there.  It was a bit expensive, but the view was great and it was pretty good food.  We tried to go to this public pool afterwards because it was so hot outside, but it was extremely packed with a huge line, so we decided to go to her brother’s girlfriend’s house because she had a pool.  We hung out there for a bit until we needed to go back and get ready for our train to Rome at 7pm.

Once we got ready and packed up all our stuff we decided to go get some dinner before our train.  That was a good idea because we were hungry and it was good food, but a horrible idea because it made us RUSH to the train station.  Rush isn’t exactly the correct word, WE GOT LOST!  We took once tram, the U6, and then changed to the U4 thinking that was correct, but NO!  We ended up having to take the U4 back to the stop to get back on the U6 to RUN OUR BUTTS OFF to make the train.  I think the Lord was looking after us because the train was 10 minutes late and we made it on time.  I was having a panic attack and almost threw up.  Jess and I stayed in one compartment and Brittany and Alex in another.  The people Jess and I met were from Germany and China.  All four of them were great and shared their liquor with us and we had a fabulous ride to Rome.  We left at 7pm and arrived in Rome at 9am.

Rome stories to come next. J

Update after Prague :)

Since returning from Prague I have had to buckle down and study for exams.  Starting in June I had 4 paper to write and three exams to study for.  Within those papers and exams I also had six days of class.  So, to say the least, June was an extremely hectic month for me. 

I had to say goodbye to one of my good friends here too, Sam, who left really early in June.  It was so sad to say goodbye, but she was excited to go home and she will still be in North America, so not too far away from me. 

Since June was jam packed with schoolwork it was a decently boring month and I hardly did anything.  I did go out a few times for going away parties.  I also went shopping for souvenirs from Innsbruck because I did not have anything from there besides my own pictures.

After my last exam on June 14 I had to get ready for our trip we were taking for 8 days to Vienna, Rome and Greece!  That trip was the one I had been looking forward to the entire time I have been in Europe.  We left on June 18 for Vienna and more to come on that trip in the next post.