Ellen visited me in Rome two weekends ago!! After 3 (at times lonely) weeks of being in a completely new environment with completely new people, I was thrilled to have Ellen stay at my apartment :-). When we met up at the train station, we were both wearing the same exact black shirt. Like exactly the same. That would happen to us LOL. Since she came on a Thursday night and I had an Italian final Friday, we couldn't really do much. But we did walk to the Colosseum and saw it light up from the inside. It's so beautiful at night! And the darkness makes the monument look extra mysterious making it very temping to sneak in (hehe jk).
The next morning, I took my very tired self to class and showed my Italian final who's boss. I rushed home after to find Ellen eating in the kitchen. We were supposed to leave to explore Rome right away but my friend Julie- my Italian classmate and fellow Korean friend- came over and met Ellen and started talking with her for like ever. Julie studied abroad in Florence this past summer before Rome so it was nice to see them connect. I just sat there happily watching them talk about Florence and made them sandwiches. I kind of felt like a mom, but in a good way ;-). Then afterwards we finally set out to see Rome but by then it was already late afternoon, so we decided we would only go to the Colosseum, the Forum, and the Palatine Hill (they're all in the same area so one ticket gets you into all three places). The Colosseum was smaller than I expected, but only because it seemed so much bigger in the movie, Jumper. But don't get me wrong- it was still huuuge. It's crazy to think that over a thousand years ago, people actually sat in the Colosseum and watched gladiator fights, public spectacles, etc. The more I get to know this city and all its history...the more I realize how little I know!
We then had a complete fail day because we didn't make it in time to the Forum even though its like...a 30 second walk from the Colossem LOL. Everything closes so early in Rome :-(. So Saturday, the next day, we were supposed to go back and see the Forum & Palatine Hill, the Vatican, Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter's Basilica, and all the other famous places in Rome. But Friday night...we went out and Ellen hadn't drank in a while so...basically we didn't make it on Saturday morning LOL. We weren't ratchet or anything, it had just been a while since Ellen had drank. So our day started off late but we got to try the Chinese restaurant right by my apartment! The sweet & spicy chicken was pretty good, I shall go back! When we got to the Vatican, it was closed LOL. Apparently the ticket office closes at 4PM, even though the museum closes at 6PM, so that was another fail. We just spent the day checking off the other places on Ellen's Rome itinerary and went back to the Vatican Sunday. But the museum doesn't open Sundays so Ellen's planning on returning to Rome for that. YAY! Oh. Sad part: The Trevi Fountain is closed for construction until 2015 so neither of us got to see it. I won't be able to see the Trevi fountain while living here for 3.5 months. NUUUUUU.
All in all, we had a really good weekend and it was honestly so comforting to have a friend here with me! It was my turn to visit Ellen in Florence last week, which was exhausting but super fun. I shall post about it soon!
xoxo
xoxo
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