Today was a cool day because we got the whole afternoon and night off to ourselves. I decided to skip breakfast or not because, contrary to my own belief, it's possible to get sick of bread for every meal. Who knew?? We got to see the Spanish steps, visit a princess, and saw some churches in between. Another morning of culture overload but still really cool!
Inside the churches families would buy their own little sections along the sides. It was then up to the family to design, create, and maintain this part of the church. They would attend their own private mass throughout the week in this section. Once the family died out, none of the sections are able to be resold to anyone else.
The church had these really cool carvings on the floor. I thought this really cool and unique until Janae told me they were tombs. I then felt the need to apologized to the floor for stepping all over them. Again, I'm sorry old people in your tombs 🙈
The Spanish steps were highly underwhelming. We were only able to stay there for maybe 10 minutes and it was very crowded so I missed the entire lecture about it. However, after that we went to see the princess which was SO INTERESTING.
Ok. Where to begin... So our teacher Dr. Erazmo refuses to tell anyone how he knows this princess. Naturally this makes me wants to know exactly how he knows this princess. After point blank asking him and getting rejected, (twice), I did some digging. Some of the other students contributed puzzle pieces and with their help I almost figured out part of the story... Or at least enough to satisfy my curiosity. But that part I'll have to tell you in person 😉
The princess is around 60 years old and so sweet! She has magnificent eye contact and a very firm handshake. Multiple times she went out of her way to make some of the shy wallflowers of the group feel special and gave them her undivided attention. One example that comes to mind was when the princess showed us a samurai sword that was 900 years old (😱!!). She made sure that every single person got a picture with the sword and for some of the more timid people she would jump in the pictures with them. It was really fun to be around her.
She showed us all around the house and knew the history behind every painting. She also showed us old letters and documents that were kept in the house. Something really special she let us do was each person got to get a picture with her sitting in two chairs that the popes used to sit in in the Vatican. How crazy?! We sat where the Pope used to sit!
So crazy fact that totally changed my perception of her (but not the day): she was in playboy twice!!! I thought that it would be like the Princess Diaries (don't judge me) where they put lots of thought and effort into picking royalty. I haven't had much wifi so I'm not sure about my facts, they're mostly from Taylor, but I believe they both have been married twice or so before they got married to each other. She used to be married to a South Carolina senator who was involved in some major scandal and he went to jail I think. So the princess has a 17 year old grandson and was jokingly telling the girls to email him; the Grandfather wants him to marry and American. Later on I was talking with one of the boys and he goes, "Here's to hoping the grandson is gay! He can marry a woman and keep me in the basement I don't care, just let me live in this house!" OMG I busted out laughing! It came out of no where and I had no idea he was gay. It was hilarious. Love it love it love it. 
Princess showing us documents
After 1:00 we were free as birds. We found a not so delicious restaurant that looked good (I wasn't impressed) desperate to eat some kind of protein. BUT I met this really friendly super stylish lady from New York/Milan/Thialand who helped us figure out the best places to go for the night! She had a good friend with her who lived in Rome and they both rocked. I love meeting new people. We went back to the hotel to rest before dinner, I'm so insanely sore in my feet and calves. Our one hour power nap turned into a three hour nap and we did leave the hotel for dinner until 8:30. That's when the fun started. 
So urban.
For dinner we followed the directions our friends from lunch gave us and went to the side of town where the locals hang out. We ate at a really good CHEAP restaurant for dinner where pizza was only 3€. That's insanely good!!! We stayed until midnight, joking around and trying not to laugh too loudly. It was so much fun listening to everyone tell different silly stories and just enjoying being full, well-rested, and happy in Rome. After dinner our waitress who spoke incredible English (being from America has its perks, almost everyone knows some English) showed us where to go for fun. We stumbled across two seperate groups of guys, each time having to plan a getaway because they wanted to follow us and hangout. Sorry, no. We ended up at a fun bar where they were playing "I've ice baby". We knew we were in the right spot.
12 turned into 1, 1 into 2, and next thing we knew we were being kicked off the patio. We politely left (sprinted away from) a group of guys who had given us roses and started to try and find our way home. Shortly after we began our walk, we realized all the busses were closed and it was way too dangerous to walk all the way home. Yay... I saw a police man and so we asked him for some help. He directed us to a taxi stop where a very nice gentleman drove us home, 4€ and one rose each. Clearly he was jealous. We got out at our hotel and thanked him a million times, hoping he wasn't serious about giving up our roses.
He wasn't, thank goodness. 🌹
Even though walking around downtown Rome is slightly terrifying at 2 am with all girls, nothing bad came close to happening and those are the moments you will remember when you leave. I love my friends. I love Italy. And I love sleep.
Bona nota!
~emily
ps- WE BOOKED A TOUR AROUND THE SET OF HARRY POTTER IN LONDON TO SAY I AM EXCITED WOULD BE THE BIGGEST UNDERSTATEMENT OF THE WORLD AHHHH!!!!!
Awesome post as usual!
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