Welcome to Roma!

Ok everyone I have a half hour so I'm gonna write as much as I can!

So, Friday night we headed out on our 14 hour drive from Gaming to Rome. The drive itself was rather uneventful though I did enjoy the winding roads of the Alps.

We arrived in Rome around 10 a.m. only to find out that we couldn't check into our hotel until 2. So Sarah, Amy, and I took a trip to a local open air market and did a little shopping. It was totally like something out of a movie, all the people speaking Italian and the beautiful weather. And it was really funny, we were just walking along looking at the stands on one side of the street which had all sorts of clothes and jewelry and then we turn around and the stand behind us is filled with freshly caught fish! It was hilarious, totally a movie moment.

We then found the metro station and picked up some wonderful italian lasagna for lunch. So we took our food and headed back to the hotel lobby where we comandeered some couches and ate our delicious lasagna. After lunch I promptly fell asleep on the couch only to be awakened a little while later to be told that our room was ready. So we headed on up and I proceeded to freshen up while Amy went out for a walk around the city.

At 5:00 we had Mass at a lovely little convent that was right down the street from our hotel. It was kind of funny during the part where the priest prays for the Pope and the local Bishop Fr. Brad was like "we pray for Benedict, our Pope . . . and Bishop."

After Mass we returned to the hotel for a delicious 3 course dinner! The best part was the lasagna which may have even been better than the lasagna we had for lunch, though it definitely could've used more cheese.

A group of us went down the street that night to get our first Roman gelato! It was quite delicious. And then, as we were exiting the gelato shop we ran into a group of Franciscan students who were going to see the Trevi Fountain. We were going to see the fountain on our tour anyway but apparently it's really beautiful lit up at night. So two of my friends decided they were gonna go back to the hotel, grab their metro cards, and head to the Trevi Fountain as well. So I decided to accompany them!

Thus begins our adventure in Rome.

As we were on the train my friend Maude was looking at our map and this lady sitting near us offered to help us out with directions. And she told us to get off at a different metro stop than the one the map told us to get off at. So we were like oh, okay but we weren't sure we actually wanted to follow her advice. But we get to the stop she recommended and she's still on the train so we don't wanna be rude and stay on the train even though she told us to get off so we're like whatever we'll get off here we have the map we can find the place. And then this lady (who's dressed rather creepily) stands up to get off. And she looks at us and is like "This is my stop too." And we're like oh, great. But we figure we can just lose her in the crowd. So we get off the train and the lady is a little bit ahead of us and then she turns around and beckons to us! Like she wants us to follow her! And we didn't know what to do and we had to go that way anyway so we did. But we were starting to get a little freaked out. So she basically wants to lead us to the Trevi Fountain. But we're not so sure we want her to cuz she's kinda creepy and this whole situation is kinda creepy but we don't know what to do! And at first it wasn't that bad cuz we were in crowded areas but then she starts leading us down these small sidestreets with not a lot of people on them. And on top of this she's asking us creepy questions: what are your names? when did you arrive in Rome? how long are you staying? WHERE are you staying?!?!?! So we're pretty freaked out now but we don't know what to do! So at one point Maude leans over to me and whispers: "Memorare." So the three of us were all praying memorares (in our heads not out loud) which was definitely a good thing. And then this lady randomly starts talking on her phone in Italian and Maude leans over to me again and is like "wanna run?" And my brain wasn't working very well in the moment so I was like "I don't know!" So then, we were about to run and then the lady gets off her phone and turns around to make sure we're still following her and we're like great, there goes that chance. And then, we turn a corner and we're at the Trevi Fountain. Yeah, the creepy lady actually led us where we were trying to go. And then she's just like "I leave you now, ciao!" and walks away. And we kind of just stood there in shock.

And then we met up with more Franciscan people, told them about our adventure, took some pictures at the fountain, and went back to the hotel. Which is terribly anticlimactic but . . .

Oh and while we were following the creepy lady we saw a priest wearing one of those really cool priest hats that you only ever see in movies. So that made me happy. In the midst of my terror.