Roma: Veni

No customs no nothin'.

I pretty much walked off the plane and then walked out of the airport.

Uhhh...

Really?

I mean, I know I was coming from France, but that doesn't make me an EU citizen.

Anyways, I wasn't complaining. Less stuff to worry about.

I found some stair steps outside to sit on. In a few minutes, Natalie and I were reunited.

Time to decide how to get to her place. Taxi? Bus?

Well both. But bus first.

Bus.

Again.

But wayyy less stressful this time.

Natalie speaks Spanish (because she's Puerto Rican), which helps her with Italian. Add in the fact that she's been in Rome for like a year now. She's practically fluent to me (granted I know no Italian). She got us tickets without a hitch, and soon we were on the bus.

When we got off the bus, it poured. Poured like it never poured before.

It was only a few steps to the taxi, but by the time we got in we were soaked.

But still cheerful.

It was such a Rome moment.

Throughout the whole thing, I just couldn't believe I was there.

Rome.

It didn't seem real.

Anyways, the taxi eventually reached Natalie's apartment.

A second to get myself together, tour the apartment, breathe.

And then pizza.

We went to a nearby place. And one thing about Italy.

The water over there is...

not free.

Like really, to get water at a restaurant you have to pay (it's bottled).

However, (comma) the bread was free. And it came with a nice looking thing of oil and vinegar and my-oh-my how Italian it all was.

But let me get to the pizza doe (dough? Unintended pun. Punintended?).

It was a thin pizza with cheese and prosciutto (I think).

Now this thing was a huge personal pizza, and it was like two euros something.

Two euros!

Say Whaaaatttttttt?

Anyways, we had some super cheap coffee for dessert.

That's what I'm talking about.

After that, Natalie had to go work in the library at John Cabot ("The Italian Job." This time pun intended). During that time, I chilled at Rosa's (one of Natalie's friends) apartment with her friends from Cali (whose names escape me at the moment except for Posy cuz she was a character).

Natalie and I stood outside her building, where a group of Italian men sat at a nearby table.

"Oh Rosa!!!" Natalie called.

The way the building was, you could see Rosa's window from where we stood.

"Rosaaaaa!!!" the Italian men chanted in mocking unison.

Soon Rosa came down, and we went into the building. Like I said earlier, Natalie went off to work for two hours, and I chilled with them.

Mimosa's, man.

The thing is (all you Florida people will find this interesting), the orange juice was red.

It was made with blood oranges, I think.

I was to find out later from Natalie that actually orange orange juice is rare over there.

Who knew?

So in two hours that happened, someone made quinoa, we walked to a nearby store and Posy learned how to roll cigarettes.

During this time, there was an ongoing debate about a pan of hardly baked cookie cake in the oven, and whether we should just eat it like dough, or wait (forever) to cook it.

By the time Natalie got back, everyone was eating it.

And it was good.

Natalie and I made plans with them for later before we left. When later came, we met a few of the girls at a café.

I'm still 20, so it was my first time actually ordering a drink at a place.

Cool.

Natalie and I sat down, and I searched the menu for a Monaco (some drink Janelle said I had to try when I was in France).

It wasn't on the menu. Looks like it's an exclusively French thing?

Anyways, I was already in the "M" section and the lady was waiting, so I quickly scanned over the paper and looked for something. I ended up being American with it.

A Manhattan.

We weren't there long. After the café, we headed to a party.

I guess I got to "do as the Romans do" (cliché ftw).

That first day it was so hard to believe I was actually in Italy. I know I'm repeating myself, but it was just surreal. I'm not sure when it clicked, but in hindsight, there were a few indicators.

Some guy was walking around the outside tables where we were sitting at the café. He was selling some type of useless, glowing tourist trinket and had no qualms just showing it off like a prized piece of jewelry. I can't remember exactly what it was, but take my word for it—it was absolutely ridiculous.

There was a French family nearby and, uh...

They actually bought it.

Say Whaat?

I guess I really was in Italy—

The French are the tourists now.


























P.S.

I heard a woman say "Mamma mia!" over there.
It's actually a thing, you guys.
Mario did not lie (Where my N64 '90s kidz at?).