weekend of a lifetime~~~team rome conquers all!

well ive clearly been a ittle lazy lately, but its just because there is so much to say abut this past weekend.

we left our apt at about 930 m on thursday night, took the 44 bus to school where we usually would pick up the 75 to the termini then we had to take the metro to a train station then the train station to the stop where we were meeting the florence bus according to the email we recieved informing us of this. it didnt see too bad until we actually did it. we couldnt get a bus from where we usuallypick up the 44, we couldt get a train to the stop we neeeded to meet the bus, we thought we missed it but luckily we foudn the 7 others going on our trip, all fortunately attending AUR! little did we know we;d be best buddies with them once we started our journey. finally, an hr after we got to the station and met with our new friends the florence bus arrived, we got on, everyone was asleep or miserable aka not friendly and we just sat quietly and went witht he flow. we arrived in sorrento at 330 am and immediately split ito groups of 10....our rome group conveniently was a group of 10 so we grabbed our keys and ran to our room...best thing we could have ever done....



the next morning after only like 4 hrs of sleep we woke up, got ready, then started our hike to capri. we walked like 3 miles to the ferry, we took the boat to the island then we all took a guided boat ride around the island, it was great and then we had no idea what we were in for.




now when i say like millions of steps we climbed, im not even exaggerating. most of us were near death, literally if the top of capri was like straight up 2 miles we walked up the whole way, it was rough. after about 30 min we reached the top and were set free, there was a bus to the way top to where a chair lift brings you even higher and we were so excited about it. us 4 and our new guy friends jay gary and drew had lunch then went up the lift, it was amazinggg...i of course found this to be a great opportunity to smoke one of my lovely pre-rolled joints and had a great time with my awesome view. once at the top it was even more beautiful then before. we all decided this was the perfect place to enjoy our lemoncello drink which these islands are known for and sat like classy europeans while we drank them taking in the view. we then headed back down, listened to susan scream how she was nervous, got some coffee and stocked up on alcohol for that night ans went back with the group around 6.

the walk back was miserable and we've all never been so happy to see our hostel in our lives, ps our hostel was like a 4 star hotel, they served 5$ amazing dinners like a restaurant would so we clearly jumped on that deal and were so happy. we went up, showered, pregamed on our sick roof-top deck then hit up a bar. the 10 rome kids aka team rome tore up the dance floor, made it behind the bar, acted inappropriately then decided we needed to go around 2. this is when the baby mama drama occurred...dum dum dummmmm

so...these 2 florence bitches hopped in our cab, trashed, let us pay and tried to escape, all of us in so many words were like "nuh, uh, oh no they di-int" so we rumbled, there was some name calling, some pointing, and some holding back, in the end we won, they apologized to us many times then kissed our asses until sunday...we win, we alwayyyssss do...we all went to our room, smoked then went to bed excited for our beach day in positanoooooo ;0)

dolla dolla billz y'all haha

yesterday was normal, had class, hung around, more class, booked our trip for this weekend!!

then it got pretty fun...well, adam made us very happy and downloaded skype then eventually we added the other boys and ally!! we spent many hrs just staring at adam do awkward things in the camera then had the pleasure of seeing drew in his fancy suit, as well as jason and justin!! woo hoo!!

*a pic on skype adam took of us talking to him and sent it haha*

then the roommates and i headed to the colosseum to meet up with the bar crawl group to hear about this job we are interested in. this job would require us to hand out flyers during our free time at some key spots aka teh colosseum, train station, near popular hostels etc....then, each night that we want to work, we show up at around 9, take the bar crawl participants around rome while drinking heavily and having a good time, then getting paid to bring people and drink with them, it should be really fun.

so we met up with the group, met the manager, then took the bus to campo di fiore, our usual stomping ground haha, we had a few drinks, discussed the "rules" of the job which arent exactly normal job rules lol, then took some shots, 1 that made us want to die, then decided to call it a night, searched for pizza then jess and i went home to smoke and go to sleep (which kinda happened) and susan and kaitie stayed so kaitie could take advantage of flavio, and being that susan is married to lorenzo and his scooter she must now not blackout at the gigante bar and cant be involved in any "whipples"(we will not define "whipple" at this time haha..

so when jess and i got back, we made a few skype calls while we smoked then talked to adam to fulfill our plan to "smoke together' over the comp haha...yes, we;re that cool...but to our surprise we not only spoke to adam, but also justin and ally on her comp, and jason on his, we had a great 4-way call going for like 40 min haha, basically it consisted of adam sending us all pics online and someone getting mad about it lol, a lot of names like "nedledick" were flying around as well haha, then ally joined in and sent us some nice pics, it was great


*adam getting pretty in OC this mem day weekend*

*adam looking hot from a young age*

today my night class was cancelled and i am soooooo excited, even tho i dont mind it except for the time, but we are going on our trip tonight, we leave from this place in rome at 11 and will get to sorrento by 2am, the hostel looks amazing, this should be a greatttt weekend ;0)

this is the website to our hostel, it looks redic http://www.sevenhostel.com/

bridge of death

so yesterday was definitely a rough one, we hardly slept, we had early classes, and jess and i had to explore the colosseum. of course we got to the place a few min late so we didnt find our class until 20 min later, but seeing the colosseum was sick, the inside of it is amazing, and i basically have a good idea of what it would be like back in the day b/c of gladiator haha...and im thinking by the end of my trip i should own a gladiator helmet and a sword of some sort...we'll see haha



after class i wanted to die but i didnt nap in hope that i would go to sleep early that night, clearly didnt happen. instead, jess and i went back to the bridge where everyone smoke and sells pot and wut nots there. tonight was a little creepier than the last time..the black stumbling guy who tried to steal my beer then proceeded to call me racist was there again, but not stumbling this time. he tried to sell us about a dimes worth of oregano for about 30 euro, if i didnt think he'd push me overboard into the tiber river i would have told him i wanted to light him on fire then feed him to wolves but i held back, these guys see american girls and assume we are dumb and will buy this shit, but this is clearly not the case...we turned down about 4 different offers of shit while jess turned down an offer this guy gave her to have sex w/ his friend haha... then we finally made a deal with a weirdo and got 2 bags and some hash for an ok price, i miss my african man in his african dress, hopefully he;ll be there next time haha

then we came back and jon met us while we were almost being murdered on the bridge, we all smoked and just stayed in for the rest of the night...


today i would consider to be like one of my laziest days here...we are all soooo tired from this weekend that we didnt do anything at all today,missing class definitely crossed my mind while waking up today at 730am...well 815 after all the snooze-buttoning i did, but it wasnt worth it to do that this early in the semester

i wanted to verbally abuse my teacher today in my second class...kaitie and i walked in about 30 seconds late and he called us out on it and like stopped the class, then of course like 3 ppl walk in 10 min late and he says nothing, weird

this is the man i absolutely despise, he is the gobble-necked one, and im pretty sure i drew an exact portrait of him during class today while he rambled nonsense and made people feel bad about themselves if they answered a question slightly wrong, mysels included, what a rat bastard

after class i came home and passed out from about 1-430...it was the most glorious nap the world has ever known...except i do remember waking up mid-nap to creepy kaitie standing over me while i slept, she claims it was to see what movie was on my comp but we all know the truth, especially b/c i caught her last night doing the same thing, but who can blame her haha

after my night class i just came back, made a few calls on my comp through skype (i love this program)...then we smoked a nice joint (hayley im getting pretty good at rolling joints, yea, be nervous ;0) ) then me jess and susan serandon walked to get some great gelato...

we are staying in tonight to get ready for this weekend, as of today we decided to take a weekend trip to capri, sorrento, and the amalfi coast!!



its going to be amazing!!! beaches and what nots galore!!! woop woop!! lol

BARCELONAAAA!!!~~~day 3~~the search for paella

we had to wake up on sunday reasonably early to checkout by 11, so we packed our things, put our bathing suits in our bags to bring with us incase we wandered to the beach if the clouds cleared up and immediately went to starbucks...obviousllyyyy

since we kept our backpacks in our hostels storage room for the day we had all day to kill because our flight wasnt until 10 that night. we walked to las ramblas and exchanged our plans for the day...susan and jess wanted to check out a contemporary art museum, kaitie was beaching it, and i wanted to walked aimlessly through the streets and get lost exploring as i usually do...so we synchronized our watches and split up for about 3 hrs....it was about 12pm and i think i may have walked for full 3 hrs i was by myself

*a bunch of tents selling fancy cheeses, olive oil, candles and other stuff*


*a store i thought was awesome looking haha*

...by the time we all got back together we were all near death we were so tired, we all collapsed in the middle of the street where ppl walk around and were convinced tourists were going to think we were homeless and throw us money....we were tired, hungover, unable to feel our legs, and laying in the middle of the street haha, but it felt so good

*haha there were vendors selling paintings in the streets, we thought this one was great lol*

at around 430 susan and i decided it was time to complete our mission for the weekend: find amazing paella

on the main street paella is about 12-15 euro a plate but on the side streets where its less touristy its anywhere from 5-10 euro so we started wandering the side streets...we saw this place that had a sign in the window for cheap paella so we went in...this place not only scared teh shit out of me but it smelled like pirates and im pretty sure the people working there were prostitutes and murderers...it was god awful, susan and i ordered chicken paella, basically this hooker handed us plates of old rice with 4 chicken bones in it...we needed to escape immediately!

we paid as fast as we could, luckily it was only 2.50 somehow w/ our drinks but we did not complain, i just wish i had something large to light on fire and throw in their window for being so gross and scary

we were so upset, disgusted, and staving we gave into the pressure and decided for the sake of our health we needed to get paella at the touristy spot, it was well worth it

after our glorious meal we walked back to the hostel, collected our things and went to the bus to go to the airport...im pretty sure the bus ride there was longer than our flight would be...once we got to the airport of course we had a problem and had to pay like 5$ b/c we are american...weird...then we had to stand on line for an hr as if it were time to board the plane, why europeans cant wait in chairs until its time to get on the plane we will never know....

we made it back to the apt around 12am then smoked and went to bed...it was a greatttt weekend, barcelona is amazing, i highly encourage everyone to go

BARCELONAAAA!!!~~~day 2~~we found beerfest in spain

well we definitely did not make it to breakfast but we were all impressed with ourselves that we were up, out of the hostel, and already in starbucks by 1045 am...we began our 2 mile hike to the middle of las ramblas where all the action occurs then decided we would be extra-touristy and hit up the bus tour of barcelona...its was 20 euro and it let us get on and off all day as many times as we wanted and explained everything we were seeing in the city, it was great!

*view of barcelona from the tour*

we got on the bus and at teh first stop we all decided it was necessary we go to the aquarium..so for 14 more euros we went in and explored, it was pretty fun, and of course we thought there was a petting zoo part of it b/c there was a sign in spanish that we were convinced it was telling us to pet teh fish when indeed it said not to we found out much later...we all prob have some spanish fish disease now, oh well

*an octopus getting fed at the aquarium...it was quite interesting*

then after we left we went to mcdonalds b/c we conveniently had a coupon and were starvingggg so we had a lovely american lunch there, inhaling our big macs as if we've never eaten before lol

so after we ate we hopped back on teh bus, enjoyed our tour of barcelona, and a little over an hr later me and susan were passed out and had a nice 20 min nap until we arrived at our last stop...we walked back to the hostel, me kaitie and susan showered and got ready for the night and jess went on another bus tour that the rest of us were too lazy to attempt.

we found amanda and we all decided to get ready and go get dinner near las ramblas, as we were almost there jess met up with us and we all had dinner together there..we picked up some cheap alcohol and some mixers then went back to pregame while jess got ready, we ended up killing the bottle and hanging out with our new friends and all decided to go out together and check out the bands playing in the streets and hit up some barsssss

*me jess and amanda smoking a little on the balcony at the hostel b4 we went out*

we went to a square right near where i stayed last summer, at the kabul house, and saw a really good band, there were indian men selling beers for 1 euro each so i was drunk and obv bargained and got the whole 6 pack for 5 euro and we just passed them around, then i did it again, and i wonder why i come home with no money always??? haha but it was really fun so who cares...then we followed our friends from school to this bar called the black sheep...on the way there we stopped b/c we heard a guy playing awesome songs in the middle of the road surrounded by people singing, so we obv joined in, it was awesome, i mean who doesnt love singing when ur drunk!?


we left after our little sing-a-long and made it to the street where the bar was, our friend said we had to be absolutely silent which we found a little odd, we passed a mime that actually yelled at susan for talking, then we ducked into a tiny door into a magical world!!!

im pretty sure we actually walked into a secret beerfest, there were huge wooden tables with huge wooden benches really low to the floor, a few diff levels to the bar, everything about us was wood, everyone was drinking beer or sangria out of these enormous beer mugs or pitchers...it was awesome...clearly by the end of the night i explained to susan that it was absolutely necessary to keep the giant mugs so we shoved them in our bags and got a free souvenir!! what a dayyy!!


*inside the black sheep*

what we also found to be amazing was that people kept having these little glass bowls filled with popcorn, once we noticed this phenomenon we clearly b-lined it to the bar to grab some...lets just say susan as well as our friend from school got cut off, from the popcorn haha

we walked home around 330, some of our friends left b/c they were somehow supposed to be catching a flight back and had to be at the airport by 5am...so we walked our 2 mile trek home and i attempted to drunk dial my mom, she didnt answer lol

BARCELONAAAA!!!!~~~day 1~una massaje? cervesas frio?

so thursday night we stayed in, smoked a little with our new friend jon then grabbed some gelato and attempted to go to sleep early...clearly that didnt work so i think jess and i got around 1 1/2 hrs of sleep then got up at 4 to jump in the cab at 4:15 to go to the airport. the ride to the airport was a little scary, this guy was taking us through these creepy side streets and alleys we have never seen before but we made it. when we got there we immediately saw a bunch of people we knew from school going to barcelona and other places...we tried to socialize but were way too tired so we waited for our plane in silence...im pretty sure none of of spoke to e/o until hrs after we landed in spain...we dont do well on the little bit of sleep we had

as soon as we landed we then found out we had to take either a bus or a train to the city b/c apparently we were about an hr away, luckily these guys that were from our school that we knew spoke spanish so we followed them and made it to barcelona...we hopped in another cab and got to our hostel which looked great on the outside, but we soon found out looks can be very deceiving haha

so we went to check in and realized we had about and hr and a half until we were allowed to and ended up having to hang out for awhile until 1230...so since we knew we were somewhat close to a starbucks and we were pretty much more excited about iced coffee then anything else we went on an adventure to find it. sadly we did not locate one just yet but we went to a little restaurant and ate..like 4 times, in spain they make very tiny sandwiches and small other things that are very strange...finally we headed back to the hostel and were able to check in, this is where it got interesting...

we first found out that they did not have sheets for us, because for those of you who have not been to a hostel, they usually consist of bunk beds and when u check in they hand you sheets and a pillowcase and you make the bed yourself...luckily for us we brought our own so we were ok for now...then we went up to our room and it was literally a 5x7 ft room that held 2 sets of bunk beds...a little cramped, kaitie was a little upset haha but it could have been worse

*our tiny room*

we then decided to get out of there and head for the beach, since i was there last summer i had a general idea of where to go but we ended up meeting a girl from australia who is 20yrs old and has been all over europe and traveling alone for the past few months, she was walking in our direction so we tagged alone and talked to her for the 20 min walk, halfway to las ramblas (the main st in the city where all the fun is) jess suddenly stopped and pointed to the side and didnt speak haha..we turned to see what she was doing and there it was...the beautiful green sign we've been searching for, a STARBUCKS!!!!

haha we were soo excitedddddd...and amanda, our new australian friend prob thought we were crazy lol but we explained our failed missions and how glorious this was for us lol


so we parted from amanda and went to the beach, laid out for awhile, got asked about 100 times from asians on the beach if we wanted "una massaje" aka a massage or if we wanted cervesas frio, cold beer...we tried to ignore them then left when it started to drizzle a little and we packed up our stuff and decided it was definitely sangria time! we sat down at one of the millions of outdoor restaurants in teh middle of las ramblas, had an enormous sangria and got a little buzzed while we people watched, it was great

*jess and kaitie hiding from the rain...whats happening under there we still dont know haha*

later on we went back to the hostel, quickly showered and started drinking, met up w/ amanda again and some more interesting people from germany, more australians, and a guy who went to our school who was there with his sister who was studying in paris...we all drank at the hostel and went to explore.

*us and amanda*

luckily we picked this weekend to go b/c it was when barcelona does the biggest festival they have and there are stages and music everywhere, tents holding different entertainment, parades, fireworks, wine tastings and other cool things. we lost our new friends so we followed amanda to an irish pub and grab a few drinks, then we went to another lounge and had free champagne and finally when we were near death b/c we were so tired we went back to the hostel to attempt our first sleep there...it was ok since we were drunk, we set our alarm for 930 so we could hit up the free breakfast but that clearly didnt work out...

DAY 17~sweet oden's raven, we found pot!!!

last night i was sitting around and decided there was no way i could stay in and at least had to go walk around and get a drink or something because we ad class at 9am and had to be ready for barcelona, so susan (serandon) and i got ourselves together and headed out toward the river to this bar near where the steps were that day i met homeless tommy, my newest buddy. this place seemed really cool, and finally we were at a bar where it looked as is these were normal romans, not the american girl molesters that we were used to. it was weird though because we totally stood out, A) b/c we were so not acting italian, couldnt even order the wine we wanted lol, the bartenders gave us an attitude and B) we were the worst dressed people there, and we werent even sloppy. these people dress so well always, im pretty sure the janitor at our school is probably wearing a Chanel suit.

oh well, it was fun but the greatest surprise we found was that inside there was a buffet of all these italian things like couscous's, bread, salad, dressings, veggies, cold pastas, fruit, and some other stuff...apparently the cool thing is to do this now certain days a week. if you buy a drink you just get to eat all this stuff lol its great, at least if we spend all our money on the trips we can find a way to get free food

this is where the best part of the night comes in, serandon and i went to a gelato store so i could get a beer and she picked up a cannoli then we headed to the steps, ppl were jsut hanging out, drinking, i think i saw homeless tommy but he was sleeping when i saw him and a lit cigarette fell from his mouth, what a guy...

then we walked across the street to the bridge..this is where i almost cried tears of joy...we were just hanging out drinking the beer and i smelled the aroma of a lifetime...pot...my eyes were glowing as i turned in what felt like slow motion and then i finally saw a group of guys passing a joint haha...i immediately informed susan i had to make a move and talk to these people so i did..i did the universal sign of smoking and asked and they said to wait a little b/c they were getting too...i almost fainted i was so excited...so we waited, a drunk black guy stumbled up to me, tried to take my beer, was mumbling english to me i couldnt understand but for the hope that i would not get stabbed i was nice but when i wouldnt hand over the beer he called me racist and stumbled away..i screamed "my best friend is black" then "susan loves black men" he still did not forgive us and yelled at me a few more times.

as i was pondering the idea of buying a bow and arrow set this african guy was selling the guys came up to me and said it was time to make the deal...this was exciting...i could tell old susanna was getting nervy so i said she could stay back while i make the deal of a lifetime but she wanted to come along...we headed down the bridge and stopped at a man i am sure was straight out of africa and just returned from mission of leading his people from one side of the jungle to the other...he was literally wearing this :


so i walked over with this guy and as we were walking i asked if it was good pot and he said "yea..its REALLY good, trust me i wouldnt be buying shit"..in a hot italian accent haha

we went over, i gve this guy 40 euro...the adrican reach into his dress and pulled out 2 fat bags of what smelled and looked like some amazing pot!

i smiled the whole way home w/ susan and was so excited to tell jess..it was the moment we've been patiently waiting for!!! of course the nugget was sleeping but finally woke up as i finished rolling a large joint...we had a moment of silence for the occasion, hugged it out, then smiled for the rest of the night...it was the best day everrrrr



so we passed out with large smiles and had class at 9am...boof

class was fine, had another w/ katiie after w/ the most boring man known to man, and he has one of those sagging chins where they think a beard will hide theyre pelican neck when it really doesnt...then had a break till 5 and on the way back was a great discovery...

every thursday in rome, maybe all of italy i dono, but is GNOCCHI DAY!!! its awesome..the food is redic so i got some to bring back...then i spoke to the guy we met the other night, the one who worked at the colosseum bar crawl, and made plans for him to come hang out, it was fun, we smoked and got gelato , we now have a new friend and we're going to meet on wednesday w/ his boss to get jobs...aka we drink for free and get paid to go out...sounds like a great job for me, i have plenty of experience ;0)

after jon left we packed and organized our room, jess and kaitie made the 2 hr each way trip to ikea today and now we are finally proud owners of drawers, hangers and mirrors and it is glorious!!! our rooms are organized and are a lot better

we are all packed for barcelona and it is now 2am...we are leaving in 2 hrs...ohhh shitttttt...thank god i have a large supply of adderol


this weekend is gona be sick...over an out, report back sunday, monday if im too hungover..and no more of this numbering the day shit, i cant count much higher

ps sheri finally figured out skype and said not to put this video up, so obviously here it is!! <3 you sheriiiiii

DAY 16~nun world

well we all know that rome is a pretty serious church-lovin place, but when i tell you i see nuns everywhere i mean everywhereeeeee....there are nuns dressed in black, nuns in blue, nuns in baige, white, every color in the rainbow, im like surrounded by a gay pride parade of nuns gone wild...and i think its pretty funny that on the buses i dont see them pay like 99% of the time, wouldnt you think that of all ppl to actually pay it would be a nun? i mean a lot of ppl dont b/c its no enforced unless the ticket checkers decide to come on the bus that day but still, maybe because they are dressed in their nun-gear they feel they are invincible, but just once i would like to see one be ticketed, but thats just me

on another note, today i got back from class and there was a lot of singing and clapping going on, i looked out my window and the little kids who usually scooter around naked were having a birthday party, and yes, this is the first time ive seen them clothed, and no, im not a creeper who watches the naked neighbors scooter all day

the funniest thing about the party is that there was a guy there in charge of little games and singing and dancing to entertain the kids, but this was not normal singing and dancing, there were sexual things going on and i think the mothers were enjoying it more than the kids...please refer to the video haha



other then that today was a normal little wednesday, had 1 class which was fine, i think my teacher gives less of a fuck about class than we do which is great, i htink he has about 20 slides a day to go over and he skips thru all of them and lets us go, i dont see a problem with that, its great haah

tonight we may go out or not, we have a big weekend ahead of us so i dono, some of us arent feeling too hot so we may chill and get better or just wander around some piazzas

DAY 15~finally woke up cold!!!

so today jess and i had class at 9am so i woke up at 730 to shower and what not and it was actually freeezzzingggg, it was one of those days that the shower had to be extra hot and it was frigid when i got out, what a day! its weird to think it was 90 degrees always last week

so due to the fact that i watched forgetting sarah marshall at like 1am last night on surfthechannel.com (awesome for free movies and TV show...AKA how we live and still try to keep up with our important american shows over here) i couldnt fall asleep so i was deaddd today. i made coffee which over here is the size of a shot and is made in something like this



this contraption is about 5 inches high and was very difficult yo figure out at first, kaitie and i actually had to find a youtube video on how to use it haha

so me jess and susan were off to class and i thought i was having such a great day b/c when i went to wait outside for them a little beagle was just standing in our hallway right by the door, i was like "yay hello puppyyyy" and apparently he didnt like me, maybe because i didnt speak italian to him so he started like howling at me and went upstairs, oh well, then we were walking down our marble stairs and i did something normal for me, i flewwwww down them, extremely bruising my ass/lower back haha...not ok, im in a lot of pain, but it was funny to laugh at

today was just a boring day, had night class, but the view from my class is amazingggggg so i took some pics, then when i got back i wanted to walk around but my bum roommates were being lazy and didnt wana go anywhere and susan was gonna scooter around town with lorenzo so we just stayed in.





tomorrow we can sleep in im so excited, no class till around 4, but apparently we are getting a visit from teh apartment people to check out our place and maybe we can get something like some money back for this construction shit thats bothering us so much, we'll see, but i highly doubt anything will come from it

i just cant wait for this weekend, barcelona is sick, and if we go to milan next weekend these next few weekends will be amazing woop woop! haha

DAY 14~maria almost made this thing rated-G...haha yes YOUUU maria

so, last night i get a lovely email from my mother explaining to me every detail of marias bridal shower which i sadly missed, it had a few parts that went a little like this haha:

her fav part-"We ate a 5 course meal, plus open bar and bottles on the tables. I ate like no tomorrow." hahaha

...and then "All your friends looked nice. Stephanie R drank a little too much, and was really funny. " hahah nice steph, my mom loved you and now she does even more

but lastly...this is where i had a bone to pick with you my dear friend maria, we already talked today lol though....this was funny "And whats this blog you have??? Anything I need to see or not at all? I won't be insulted, don't worry. Blog away. "

i was like ohhhh fuck, my mother has word of this blog and someone has told her how to see it, i was about to delete this shit so fast, all i need is her to read my daily adventures searching the city for drugs, meeting homeless people throughout my journeys, getting home each night at 5am from the bars, and not giving a fuck about my classes haha

thats all i would really need, another speech about my lack of responsibility, maturity, and other things in life people at 22 usually have accomplished such as getting a job, graduating and such haha, but luckily im quite skilled and quickly reacted with an email back explaining she was missing nothing and the blog was to merely inform my friends occasionally about my life here in rome so i wouldnt need to email them often haha...little does she know the truth muahahaa

oh well, after that was taken care of at the wee hrs of the morning, jess and i were on movie #2 trying to sleep and still wasnt working and we had class at 9am at the colosseum for our art class, so this meant we had to be up at 7 to shower and make it to the center of the city by 9...clearly after only sleeping for about 4 hrs we hardly made it but it was so cool so have class walking around the colosseum getting a tour of all this cool shit rome has to offer

then we both had a break from 12 to 3:40 but before we could go back to relax after our exhausting morning we met our roommate kaitie in the housing office to start fighting bitches about our whole construction in apt situation...it was not successful so far, but if they think 4 girls 2 from NY and 2 from NJ are gona take this shit they have another thing coming haha...this is to be continued...

we were all tired after the weekend so we hung out in the apt tonight and suddenly we found ourselves booking flights and hostels to barcelona this weekend!!! its gona be siccckkkkkkkkk...sangria all over my faceeeeee!! what a dayyyyy!!! haha cant wait, and also we just decided we may go to milan next weekend for fashion week...aka pack your bags, we're going to milan as will ferrell would say haha (if youre cool you know what im quoting)

tomorrow i may go on a search for a place to get my nose pierced, we'll see how it goes, even if i dont like it after and decide to take it out thats fine, im just bored so i think its time to do something a little different....i mean other than the dredlocks i convinced maria i was getting conveniently right before her wedding haha, i clearly explained i was doing it to draw more attention to my head than hers while on the altar on her wedding day, she wasnt pleased haha oh well

DAY 13~I made friends with homeless tommy

So last night we decided to go to scholar's again, the irish pub we love so much, but first we went to ccampo di fiore to meet up with some of susans friends at the drunken ship. we pregamed with the usual, a bottle of wine each, some beer and some jager lol


*tram to scholars*

when we got to campo, susans friend who we met the other day seemed to us that she wasnt exactly the party girl or a big drinker b/c she said she hadnt gone out much and we were slightly scaring her with our stories of what we did when we went out lol...as soon as we got there she was trashed lol, susan ended up taking a lot of shots and her friend came up to us and was saying something about how she showed her boobs to get free shots at the bar hahaha...we died, it was great

we met some english guys that recognized us from the night before so we hung out with them for awhile, met up with some other friends and headed to scholars. this place was so packed, but they had another live band which was pretty good...after awhile we were so annoyed with being pushed around at the bar because it was so busy we decided to go outside for awhile and get some air....i bumped into this guy i met the night before that is a few years older than us and a teacher here by day, but a colosseum bar crawl leader by night haha...he said we can come by and talk to him and his boss about getting a job doing that so i copped that numba yo haha so we may do that which would be cool....susan and i left b/c the bar was so packed and it was about 4 so we walked to the tram and went home and kaitie and jess stayed back with the other girls and the english men...we came back and made some sandwiches out of some things we had around the apt and was pretty good, prob better b/c we were drunk lol...kaitie and jess strolled in around 6 after giving the english visitors a tour of the colosseum and the trevi fountain, awesomeeee to see at night

today we all woke up pretty late, weird ha...susan and i decided to go grocery shopping, then once we got to the street us geniuses realized it was sunday and everythingggg in rome is closed, well except for the necessities aka pizza and gellato places...so we did the next best thing, we hit up the most beautiful bakery we have ever seen, then the pizza place lol



the responsible roommates of mine did hw and some went to the library while i decided to explore and walk around all day...i took the tram to the river, walked around for awhile, walked to a few different piazzas and then made it to piazza trilussa where martina said to go in order to find some drug lovin individuals lol

when i got there i just sat on the stairs and chilled and checked out the scenario...there were a lot of people smoking joints, a few sketchy looking people, a few couples, some families sitting on benches, and some homeless druggie guys who had a dog, about 3 bags holding their whole lifes belongings and a weird little thing, a box made of wood, covered with a sheet, on top were 2 figurines of something and 2 little white mice that they were petting haha...very odd


*one of the homeless guys and the table of mice haha ew*

i walked around for a little and on the way back stopped at the stairs again. this time one of the homeless guys were playing the guitar verrrrry well and singing in italian, it was really cool, but then this other crazy homeless man showed up and started singing with him, it was a little weird haha, then after their duet he weirdo came up to me and started speaking in italian, i tried to tell him i didnt understand and spoke english, he started speaking english to me and then walked over to his beer and his shopping bag of belongings and proceeded to come sit next to me, interesting

i came to find this mans name was tommy, he had been to a bunch of places in america but not NY, he lived in paris for 10 years and the guy playing the guitar was a very nice guy, a very good friend of his, and theyve known e/o for 1 whole week haha...after all this i brought up the topic of smoking and he told me i could find "herb" at the stairs we were at but the guy wouldn't be there for about an hr since it was early in the night, otherwise there are a lot of people who sell there, he then started to roll a joint and thought i would be sharing it with him, this is when i decided it was my cue to leave so i told me new friend tommy id be back in an hr and i had to go b/c i was meeting a friend for dinner.

i then went to leave and found that i had walked in a circle around the piazza for about a half hr then finally found my way to the tram and made it home, i decided not to return to tommys stairs b/c no one relly felt liek going anywhere tonight and i didnt really feel like going there alone again, i dont really know how a homeless man would react if he offered me a joint to share w him and i turned him down again, i presume that could lead to my death and thats not good haha


*the view from the piazza where my homeless friend and i shared a great day haha*

tomorrow i have my art history class early so def taking it easy, i think we;re going to somewhere near the colosseum so that could be cool.

ps i have a bug bite on my arm the size of a pizza, i think these roman mosquitoes will be the death of me

DAY 12~we're demanding a penthouse suit

So last night we wet to scholar's....an irish pub which was realllly fun! there was a U2 cover band that was awesome so we mingled with some enligh men which made little jessie very happy haha...it was great tho, the english men are nuts, there was a lot of singing, dancing in giant circles, some slang i couldnt figure out, but all in all it was a great night, this is where we finally could communicate with people so it was gloriousssss!!


*me and kaitie at scholars*

our trip home was interesting, we walked for about a mile, then waited for a bus we thought would never come....kaitie was trashed and kept pretending she was gona walk home then kept telling us she was gona just pay for a cab so we could leave but kept forgetting she had zero money haha then was convinced they would take a credit card but that was not happening either lol


*the english seem to enjoy standing in a circle arm in arm while singing and dancing*

we finally got home at 5am AGAIN..weird....then just when we thought we would get a nice sleep b/c it was saturday we were proven wrong and of course there was more obnoxious construction going on at 7am again...not only was it horrible again, but now we have come to find they are building up our side of the building now and soon our balcony will be taken from us like the one in the kitchen and our lives will be ruined!!

we all decided as we were yelling and cursing at 7am that we are absolutely marching onto campus monday and demanding something be done, this cant go on any longer, we will demand either our money back for housing or a penthouse sweet lol...im voting for the penthouse over looking rome, but thats just me haha

so today we were so lazy again due to our sleeping issues still so i spent most of the day sitting and watching liek all of season 1 of 30 rock, which is awesome ps, while kaitie and jess watched about 100 episodes of gossip girl....susan scootered around town with lorenzo, so we gave her a mission to find us some pot or hash or anything at all and we think it worked, due to the language barriers she thinks he made some calls and is getting us some which is greattttt news!!

but if this doesnt work out, the best person everrrr martina who i wish was still living here gave us a list of places to go and hang out, smoke outside, people play the bongos, sounds like the greatest place on earth lol

so tonight we ay head over to one of these piazzas she recommended or venture somewhere else, its a great cool night finally since it rained last night so things are looking up, i hope i didnt just jinx our life lol...and tomorrow we may head to the beach, its like 1 1/2 hrs away so depending on how hungover we are we may try to go, it should be sick and will be cool to be on the water finallyyyyyy

DAY 11~our battle with the scaffolding continues...

* the tiber river that runs through romaaaaa*
last night we ended up staying in, well for most of the night. I had my pysics class until about 730, then got home and just hung out b/c i was sooo tired from our night before and not sleeping at all that day, jess and kaitie were content staying in and catching up on some serious gossip girl, and susan went scootering across rome with lorenzo....at around 11 my A.D.D. was kicking in full force so i decided it was time to go searching for pot, hash or anything at all to be honest lol...so jess and i headed out around 1145 to find the trams were done running for the night so we went to the bus, we made it up and down the block a few times changing buses and gave up, we were way too tired to continue figuring out where to go so we went home...

this morning at approx 8am we were conveniently awakened again but drills basically into our wall by italians and MORE scaffolding being put up...this is not ok, we video taped this mayhem to show the school so they could fix this issue sometime soon...as we tried to fall asleep again i heard my comp being IMed rapidly so i checked and it was drunken adam!! haha

i guess it was around 230 towson time so all u drunk messes were stumbling home, i loveddd how adams exact words were :

KKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK
ELAINA AND LAURA ARE HERE I AM FUCKED UP!!!!
SMOKED SOME BLUNTS SO FDURNK
WATCHING REAL SEX lol lol
hahahah i'm passsing out on them fuckers, fuck them yo hollla back
wooop wooop


hahahahaah...i died...this is why i miss towson lol

so we finally got up around 12...i went to the store to make some breakfast for us and constructed some potato and egg meal that matt always makes us when we are drunk and it actually worked out, thanks matttttt...cant wait till u get here to cook for us everydayyyy lol


*some cool street art we saw*

then me and susan went exploring so she could take pics for her photography class and we ended up walking around for like 4 hrs, we saw some awesome places and by the end of the day we were deaddd so we stopped at an irish bar we heard of alled scholars, it was so cool, not to mention they had some american food such as nachos chicken nuggets and wings...we were glowing with happiness lol and now i think we all may head back there tonight b/c its supposed to be a sick bar, and tonight there is a U2 cover band, next week is a red hot chili peppers band and then after that an oasis band, this place will be a fav of ours i can tell...


*the spanish steps*


*the view from the steps*

tonight it just finally rained so hopefully it will cool down, especially since we cant keep our windows open due to the possibility of itlians climbing into our windows lol

DAY 10~~ill never escape construction, mario and luigi are in my window

Last night we went to see DJ AM at a club in the middle of rome..it was sickkkk...he was awesome, most of us had 9am's but apparently that never seems to sway our decisions about going out so once again we got home at 4am and had to be up by 8..awesomeeee, but it was definitely worth it. he played amazinggg music and we drank so much before we left that we only had 1 drink there and it was free for paying th 10 euro to get in


*susan polishing of her bottle on the bus...oh i love how rome has no problem with open containers!*

so it was a pretty good deal, we just asked the bartender to make us something strong and me and susan had drinks from hell, thank god we were drunk to begin with or they'd taste like pure gasoline im sure....



as usual this place was swarming with a lot of guys, not as many grimy italians as usual but there were obviously a sufficient amount. we scattered a few times but luckily this place was just a square so we always were able to bump into e/o eventually...everyone found a weirdo italian guy who knew only a few words usually consisting of "where you from" "you-a very-a beautiful-a", "scooter", and "keees" haha...but of course everyone meets guys with classic names like lorenzo, gioseppe, giovanni, carlo, the usual, and one i spoke with for a while was named patrick lol, maybe he was half irish


*dj AM!!*

...after we left susan gathered us together with her announcement that she had found us a ride home with about 4 italians in a car about the size of a mini-cooper that she had just met, i knocked some sense into her and reminded her that may not be the smartest choice, so we hopped in a cab and returned around 4 or 430...class was def gona be fun



this morning we were rudely awakened at 7am by scaffolding which is all made of metal being put up alongside the whole side of our building conveniently blocking 3 of our 4 windows from opening which now brings the temp of our apt from a mere 90 degrees to around 99...saweeeeettttt so now all we here are creeper italians screaming in our windows and metal being throw on metal which is not a pleasant sound ps...this is not ok...first dulaney valley tortures me for a year and now the hell has folowed me to rome...what a day

due to the lack of sleep and the banging from 7am to about 5pm i dont kno how ill make it out tonight on 3 hrs of sleep...we;ll see later on i suppose

this weekend we are staying in rome but next weekend im pretty sure we're going to amsterdam!!! finalllyyyyyyy...i need it lol

DAY 9~ withdrawal at its worst

Today wasnt too bad, jess and i had our first italian class this morning where our teacher barely speaks english but it should be helpful, then my roommate kaitie and i had a mcom class together then i had a 5 hr break until what i thought would be my class from hell...AKA physics...not only was i terrified for yet another science to bring me down (b/c as we all know im a little "slow" when it comes to the sciences) haha but this class was also apparently located on the 5th floor of the building we had class in the other day which had stairs of death...and we only had to go to the 3rd floor the other day

so i got to campus around 5, had class at 5:15, walked up the 3 flights ready to hike my way to the 5th floor, then i noticed the stairs ended...i was like aw fuck im in the wrong building arent i...i hiked down the stairs then to ask where i had to go, then realized i had to go a diff way in the same building to i re-walked up like 90 flights of stairs...great!

luckily this physics class seems like it will be great compared to towson..fuckkkk towson and their science shit! this class has like no tests and seems really fun..thank god

after class i accidentally bumped into jess at the bus station so we got back, headed to the supermarket and bought a few bottles of wine, tonight we are staying in, drinking and excited to sleep in tomorrow since we dont have class until 3:40...tonight we need to rest up b/c tomorrow night we are going out and dj AM is playing at a club around here woo hooo!!

also...a mission for this week is to find hash or pot...we need something over here ASAP!!!!

DAY 8~~one drink alwayssss leads to another...even the night b4 classes start

So last night we decided to head back to our fav. bar gigante and have A drink...aka a glass of wine so we could get out of the apt, be slightly roman, and get a good nights sleep before most of us had class at 9am.

we went out around 1030 and planned on being back by 12, that was our latest time and we were sticking to it...or so we thought...



we got to the bar and it was slightly dead being it was a sunday, but all the tables outside were packed. we headed in to see our fav bartenders so kaitie could mack it to her man and to get a few drinks....one thing lead to another and susan decided she was gona get drunk b/c she didnt have class until 1230 while the rest of us had to be up by 730. we were being responsible for a good amount of time until we gave into a shot, then another, then a few more drinks, and suddenly it was 3:30 and the bars were all closed...greattttt

p.s. this guy at the bar who was super creepy fed us nachos and looked like the crazy fucked up brother in wedding crashers and kept asking me to dance and i said no, jess was not sure why but i was not nearly drunk enough and i had no intentions to let him offer me a painting lol



sidenote: hot massimo whispered dirty sweet nothings into susans ear all night then proceeded to try and convince her to let him lick whipped cream off her chest...he may or may not have succeeded muahahaha


we should have left as soon as the bars closed but we stuck around for a few outside and were bombarded by about 15 italian drunk guys who were out for there friends bachelor party...they were sooo crazy and this guy had a redic terrible tattoo that we couldnt believe lol...this was our cue to go home



we grabbed a cab and got home and slept for about 3 1/2 hrs and it was time for our first day of classes...awesomeee

jess and i had our first class together, art of rome...this god forsaken classroom was up about 2 millions stairs in a building that was about 90 degrees at 9am, luckily this class is never in the classroom and only meets once a week but in different locations in rome. this class is so fun, one week we go to a museum, then the vatican, then the colosseum, and all cool places like that, its like a field trip everyday! woo hoooo!!

after we went over the syllabus and all that fun stuff the whole class left and hopped on the bus to head to the pantheon. it was sooo hot especially cuz there was 26 of us as well as the regular bus riders and the buses stop and go always so poor jess almost died but we finally got off, got on the tram, and got to the pantheon pretty quickly. this thing was really cool and in a square but yet again we had to sit in the heat for like 2 hrs blahhhhh



we had a break until class at 3:40, then headed back to campus for class #2...the teachers seem awesome so far and hopefully my other classes tomorrow seem just as cool

tonight we actually are staying in for once, i couldnt help but grab a bottle of wine to drink tho being they are only $1.50 so hopefully it will make me pass out soon...tomorrow we start our italian class, i cant wait, i need to learn how to communicate to these people finally, or at least be able to ask where to buy a mirror or something lol

DAY 7~still no phone, but i walked for 4 hrs across the entire country

yesterday we were lazy...again...haha, then me jess and suan decided to go back to the area we explored a little the day before and walked around for a few hours, it was beautiful, there were small cobblestone streets and vines hanging from all the beautiful buildings and little squares with fountains that people just hang out at and drink beer and just talk there, its kinda interesting...

*some little baby turtles we saw at a store...i miss emily!! haha*

we bought some cool jewelry from africa from some lady and it was pretty cool, most of it made from wood...we were starving by 8 so we stopped and ate at a little local place outside, it was awesome, we finally had a meal not consisting of pizza which was great lol...




*some cool buildings during our adventure, and a fountain where people hang out and drink*



the girls talked about maybe doing the pub crawl that night that starts at the spanish steps and they take you around to a few bars for 4 hrs and you get drinks and specials at each bar for around 20 euro...i decided i kinda wanted to take it easy and perhaps stay in being that ive been drinking like everyday, and we all know that i dont just go into a bar with self control and only have 1 beer haha



when we got back though i clearly gave in to peer pressure when i had planned on finally taking it easy, not spending millions at the bar, and giving my liver a rest...we decided to go back yet again to campo di fiore instead of the bar crawl...we went to a few bars there and my mission was to find hash...this wasnt going too well so by the end of the night i saw 3 people sitting on the street who i thought looked sketchy enough to help me with this mission lol...this was unsuccessful b/c instead of them being sketchy italian rastafarians they were actually roman students haha and i was completely wrong....i got home around 4 yet again and of course got up this morning at around 130...i decided i needed a phone asap so i set on my way alone thru the city in search of one

i figured id head to the bus/train terminal that i was pretty familiar with on how to get there and i knew they had a lot of stores in there b/c theres like a mall connected to it...but being that i get distracted so easily i got on and off the bus/tram like 4 times b/c i would see a cool market, or a store that sells fans (ps i finally got one even tho i had to hold it thru my whole 4 hr adventure!!!)...finally i made it to the terminal and walked all over the mall part of it for about an hr after passing weird stores such as a store that ONLY sells different bottles of water, and apparently fancy waters b/c i saw diff bottles locked up in special cases haha, i finally found a man in a phone store who actually spoke decent english, i pretty much picked out a phone, figured out how to pay for it with good deals on calling ppl here and to the US and then as i was paying the guy asked for my passport which i OBVIOUSLY didnt not bring b/c it never even crossed my mind that i would need it....fuck me

i headed back to the bus which would take me to my apt but then of course got off yet again b/c i couldnt buy a bus pass b/c the machine didnt work which is usually fine b/c you dont need one unless these like bus police come to check ur ticket which is very rare but clearly they decided to come on 2 stops after i got on, so i bounced and jumped off that shit real quick b/c you can get a 100$ euro fine for not having one if they check...

so jumping off this bus left me near the colosseum where i knew how to get on another bus but of course got distracted again lol and wandered to these cool buildings i saw



...finally i was near death from walking for about 4 hrs so i got on the bus and headed home to also grab food b/c it was around 4 and i stil lhadnt eaten and was getting so hungover from last night...i grabbed some lasanga for $3 euro and it was amazing...now i am finally sitting with my fan about 1 ft from my face and will not move from it until december lol...

classes start tomorrow, this should be fun....or not b/c there is no AC in the classrooms so im sure that will add to how unenjoyable class already is....awesomeeeee

DAY 6~~~time to try and get a phone, this should be interesting

last night escalated quite quickly if i do say so myself....

jess was sick so stayed in, that poor little nugget, so me susan and kaitie went out and decided it was a safe bet to hit up campo di fiore again and see where the night would take us...susan pregmaed with a bottle of wine and a jager shot and i had 2 shots and 3/4 of a bottle of wine, we were feeling pretty good lol (ps a bottle of wine costed us $1.50 in euros aka about $2.25 US ) trilllaaaaaaa haha

we took the tram, and saw a guy wearing an interesting shirt that i doubt he knew what it meant lol...



and when we got to campo di fiore we went back to gigante, the bar where hot massimo works b/c basically every time you go and get a shot they give you like 3 for free, and im not talking about weak shots here, the other hot bartender made us a few that had 2 vodkas, a rum, triple sec and a little sour mix...banginnnnn

we decided to leave there after susan decided she should make friends with everyone and anyone in there haha and we were getting dirty looks from these italian bitches who were parked at a table in the back and clearly not enjoying the show we were providing them with...we went to another bar where we saw a lot of people we recognized from orientation and such and hung out there for a bit...its very strange tho, people just come up to you, ask if youre a part of the AUR program, introduce themselves like youre actually going to remember them tomorrow, then walk away...and i dono how people automatically assume we're american, maybe its how pale i am, the way we are dressed, or how we down shots like we are sumo wrestlers lol...i thought i was a trickster with my gladiator sandals but apparently they didnt throw anyone off haha

we left that place and went on an adventure to try and find this bar we liked from our first night in rome, we searched the alleys for about a half hr and gave up once we gave in to the fact we were all too blacked out and that bar we enjoyed so much will never be found again unless we accidentally stumble upon it some other night


....back to gigante we went and met up with some friends we know, a few shots later we were trashed, susan danced the night away with hot massimo haha then once she gave us the warning that she was absolutely too drunk to continue, we decided to leave...this is where it got blurry...

i kno i skyped elaina and talked to elise and a few others but i cant really remember what went on...i think i got yelled at for something, then we went to bed...

today i MUST try and find the energy to search this country for a cell phone, we'll see how it goes...and lets keep our fingers crossed for a fan!

DAY 5~~give us ice coffees and a fan or give us death!

Last night we tried to be responsible and stay in to catch up on sleep and head to our orientation at around 9am...we clearly didnt do so, we couldn't fall asleep until 3, we were soooo hot, still have not found a fan and were miserable. we woke up early, showered and stumbled outside to the bus and made it to orientation right on time. we were sooo hot still and starving, jes was smart and escaped briefly and came back with a donut that whore haha jk, shes just smarter than the rest of us...

orientation was stupid, basically warned us not to trust anyone, told us that we are the only ones who drink in large quantities, and everyone wants to rob us, it really started our day off right haha

we came back, decided we needed to finally get some necessities such as dish soap, paper towels and food to cook with.

there is this crazy market literally 2 min walking distance away from us that sells everything in little stands from fruits, to fish, meats, nuts, veggies, cheeses, breads, shoes, fabrics, and some kitchen things...we got a few things then hit up the supermarkets on the same street

*kaitie shopping away at the supermarket*

the problem w/ italy is you need to go to a diff store for everything such as if u need a light bulb u go to the light bulb store, a cup of coffee is only at the coffee store, and we are still on the search for the fucking fan store!! haha


*huge wine things...like 3 times the size of a keg*

shopping was difficult b/c of our lack of italian aka lack of reading labels, we did our best and left with a sufficient amount of ingredients to make a great italian dinner...we hope

so we came back and it was siesta time, jess and susan passed out so kaitie and i talked about iced coffee for about 3 hrs then decided after google-ing dunkin donuts and starbucks to find that they are not located in rome that it was time to cross over to teh dark side and head to mcdonalds in hope that we could enjoy a delicious icey coffee beverage.

susan woke up, jess was dead, susan kaitie and i trecked our way to find a mcdonalds...we made it there like 8 tram stops later and were upset to find they did not have any coffee at all...WEIRD


*our search for iced coffee*

we left, but not before enjoying some classics like happy meals and such...

we crossed the street and found ourselves in a great neighborhood part of where we live called trasvetere...there are cute little shops, restuarants, and things on the street to buy for way less than the more touristy areas b/c this is where the locals hang...we finally made it back and are going to make dinner soon with all our new food we bought, we're hoping for the best...

tonight we may hit up an irish pub, most of us are feeling a bit under the weather but will fight thru it...i mean come on, its our first friday in roma!!