Roma!

Nothing like booking a day trip last minute! This may have been one of my best decisions yet. My roommates and I decided to go to Rome for a Saturday and I was absolutely blown away by the city. Being in Florence I had heard many students say things like "Rome is overrated, bla bla bla" but do not believe them for one second because the history in that city is phenomenal! 

One day is obviously not enough to see everything Rome has to offer but for only 22 Euro round trip, I'm happy with my day spent there! We arrived in Rome at 9:30 am and left at 8:45 pm more than content with our visit. Going to some of the major points of interest was very easy, the Colosseum, Roman Forum, Palantine Hill, Trevi Fountain, and the Spanish Steps are all located in a pretty direct line that is easy to navigate (*without being directionally challenged I suppose). We got to see all of these as well as the Pantheon, Piazza Navona, and a contender for the most breathtaking buildings I've been to: Altar of the Fatherland.  

We ended our phenomenal day with some pasta made fresh in front of us! I opted for carbonera, which is an egg and bacon pasta dish that originates from, you guessed it, Rome! The pasta-making master was awesome. 

Ciao for now Roma, I'll be back!

Side note on entering the Colosseum: they say to get tickets for entrance into the Colosseum before you go. These tickets purchased beforehand give a time slot to supposedly make entrance faster. This may be true, but you'll still need to stand in a long line even if you do have a time block. So I suggest getting in line between 10 and 30 minutes before you're time block anyways. Or you have two other options: buy a ticket and get in line there, or go with a guided tour group to get you in faster with "skip the line" privileges. We were not there during peak tourist season so it seemed like the the time slot prepared people line was longer than the last minute ticket line. Also the lines themselves were all initially very confusing and seemingly unorganized. This may be their ploy to push people to buy the more expensive guided entrance tour so you can skip the lines. For college students on a budget, waiting was fine for us but I can't speak to the crowds during peak season. It might be worth the extra expense to skip the line if you ever decide to go when it is the tourist season! 

~More photos to come, having technical difficulties!~