One Gladiator, Two Gladiator, Three Gladiator, Four...

Today was sightseeing day numero uno. Sam wanted us to see everything we could, but of course, we have our priorities. First, we needed breakfast. We were pulled into a little cafe by a looming creep waiter. It was actually around lunch time, so I got pizza and Sam got focaccia. It was nice, except for the weird and weirdly skinny waiter and the exorbitant price of a frozen cappuccino.

From there we went to the ruins. While walking for a while, we saw quite a few gladiator impersonators. Most of them were fine, but one really stood out. He was wearing the armor and holding a sword and a helmet. However, he was also wearing socks with his sandals, cargo shorts, and a bandana. That guy didn't fool me at all. We went to il Colesseo first. It will never cease to amaze me. I think the best way to describe it is epic. The tickets we bought there also got us into il Foro and il Palatino. Il Palatino was one thing we had not seen last time. But I really don't know why. It was so so cool! I'm still not totally sure what is was, but it seemed like a collection of residences and a stadium. Many of the dwellings were fairly intact. Then we went to il Foro. It was okay. Obviously, it's amazing, but I much prefer the other two. Although there was an exhibit there about an ancient aristocratic family called the Aemii (?), which had a frieze depicting the capture of the Sabine women. It reminded me of my school friends and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. <3

From the ruins, we went to another place we'd skipped last time -- The Spanish Steps! It was a bit of a walk, but it was worth it. Not only did we get to see them, but we got to sit down for a while. We people watched and relaxed. Everyone else was doing basically the same, so it was a great atmosphere. Hopefully, I'll be able to spend time there between classes. After that, I insisted that we go to the Piazzo del Popolo. Honestly, I wasn't that interested, but I wanted to have seen it and I didn't want to walk all the way there the next day. We were close, so we went. It was iight. Then, back to the Beehive. When we got there, we got a bread, honey and cheese plate. We hadn't eaten since our expensive encounter with the creepy waiter and the snack was just delightful. Then, nap time. You see, we get cranky without our nap time. Plus, we needed to rest for the night.


















We went to Scholars, an Irish pub that caters specifically to students studying abroad. It was a Thursday, so it was kind of empty, but it was a great place. It's all dark wood, with college T shirts hanging from that bar and soccer playing on the TVs. Pretty nice. I definitely want to got here a lot this semester. Eventually, the bartender, Steven came over to talk to us. He was kind of a welcome wagon. He's from Ireland and he informed us that, usually, Italians aren't allowed in the pub because they hassled the girls, but tonight that were less strict. A couple minutes after he left, a few Italians came over. Only one spoke English and translated for the others. I lost some sister points because I mostly made Sam talk for us. In the period of our conversion, we told them several lies (we're from New York; i study art; we're only here for three days, etc) and eventually they left. Then, we walked back to the Beehive and collapsed.

It was a great first day in Rome. I don't know how tomorrow can beat it....