Day 32: T.G.I.F.

All I know is that I have never been more excited for a Friday -- I think it is because I knew I would be able to sleep in on Saturday morning. Hallelujah! We usually don't have classes on Friday, but we did today. They started at 10 in the morning, but we had to wake up at 8:30 to clean the Palace because we have Roberta's wedding party here Saturday night. So we got up and cleaned our little Palace until it was spotless. We went to class and Marco's history lesson was first. It was so intriguing to me because now he is teaching us about World War 2. But instead of teaching, he tells us stories about what his life was like while World War 2 was going on. The sweet man is full of good stories -- I couldn't get enough! My grandfather has told me of his experiences of WW2 in America, but it was neat to hear it coming from someone the same age but who lived in Italy at the time. It was such a different point of view and I loved seeing it from his eyes. He was telling us about how a week before the war broke out, he and his mom drove up to Holland to visit his brother who was in school there. When they were driving back to Rome, they made it into the boarders of Switzerland 2 hours before war was declared and the borders were closed. If his mom hadn't kept on driving and they had stopped in Germany to get a hotel like they usually do, their lives would have been completely different. How cool is that? And then he had stories about how his brother escaped from his military duties in Holland.... and how they had to live in a cave for however many months while the war was going on because bombs were being dropped everywhere... and how military men were roaming the streets and stopping him to ask him why he wasn't in the war (he wasn't German, he was Italian and he had papers to prove it)... how he had to help dig trenches instead since he wasn't in the war (and how he ran away every time the people weren't looking)... my jaw was on the floor in awe of these heroic tales.

At our lunch break Becca and I hiked up to the Supermercado because I was living on Special K bars and Eggs. Nasty, I know! Our afternoon class was with Rosella and it was interesting also -- Greek Mythology. I know I have learned all about it before, but I never seem to fully grasp the concept, so I paid close attention. We got done around 4:30 and then we all went back to the Palace to get ready for the night. We were all heading into Rome for the evening to get dinner (Mexican) and go explore Rome at night. We all got ready and walked to Albano to catch the 6:20 train. Luckily, we found train tickets (it's a lot more difficult than they make it sound) and made it to the tracks in time. From the Train Station in Rome, we had to take the Metro 5 stops north and then walk to the restaurant. We were so excited (and relieved) to see that it was a legit Mexican restaurant. They set up a table for 15, we sat down and all ordered. Note to you people in America: take advantage of free chips and salsa and the fact that you can eat Mexican for under $5 because here you have to pay for chips and salsa and the cheese dip alone is 6 Euros. Dang International foods.... So we all ordered (3 of us split the Fajitas and it was so worth it) and enjoyed our night dining al fresco!

{Cantina Mexicana in Rome}

{Half of the dinner group...}

{... and the other half}

{Katie enjoying her marg}

{I got a little carried away with my camera. They about had to ban me from using it}

{Katie and Lindsey}

{Me and Becca... and Anna Curl!}

After dinner we walked to meet some people in the center part of Rome, and when we got to the meeting spot we realized there was an open market going on. So we shopped around a little and then we stumbled upon a little drink stand. Some girls got espresso (they were needing a little pick-me-up and espresso is the only way to roll in Italy) and I was about to get nothing until I saw it.... IRISH CIDER on tap. Are you serious? All of us cider connoisseurs started freaking out and of course we got us a cup. It was heaven -- ya'll seriously have to try it. I am thinking World Market probably sells it because they have that section of all those International drinks. I'm trying first thing I get back in Auburn! So we got our ciders and we were just walking along the street when we looked up and saw that we were walking by Castle of Saint Angelo, this big building in Rome. And St. Peter's Basillica was down the street. It is the coolest feeling to be roaming the streets with that much history on them. We were down by the Tiber (Tevere in Italian) River and remembered Cinzia told us about these cool summer concerts they do down on the bank of the river, so we went to explore. It was so cool! It was all these little bar areas set up along the bank and it was seriously so chic and so awesome. It was such an oxymoron of the new, chic bars right next to the ancient Tiber River and Castle of Saint Angelo. Rome is so cool! So we hung out there for a while, enjoying our night, before we headed back to the bus station taking us to good ole Ariccia!

{We saw this and couldn't resist the photo opportunity...}

{Becca and I as content as we could be with our ciders walking the streets in front of Castle Saint Angelo and by the Tiber River}

{Castle Saint Angelo! It is the place with the secret, underground passageway leading from it to The Vatican. It was on the movie Angels and Demons}

{Katherine's first espresso shot ever!}

[Curl holding the moon in her hand}

{Becca and Katherine at the Levi Bar by the Tiber}

{Caitlyn, me and Anna Curl at the Levi Bar}

{I promise it was a lot cooler than it looks in this picture!}

Happy Friday and Happy Weekend :)