And to begin, I think I'll talk about IKEA.
We decided to go to IKEA on Saturday. Which is always a good idea. We looked up the route so we knew what train we needed to take, which stop to get off to switch trains, and then what our final stop would be to then proceed by foot, to IKEA. And we did all of that with no trouble, the trains in Italy being much like the Underground in London, only dirtier and not as organized. To make a comparison, Italy's trains and stations are a third world country compared to London. But they do play cartoons in the Italian trains, which is kinda cool.
Anyways, once we reached our stop, we had no idea where to go. We saw rows of buses and a handful of taxis, but once we walked out of those bounds, we found a wonderful make-shift market of clothes, jewelry, shoes, and etc. Which is when we saw the IKEA sign, and realized how far away we were. So we followed this tunnel under a bridge and found ourselves hanging out in a shady part of wherever we were. And the sidewalk happened to end, sadly not in the way of Shel Silverstein, so if we wanted to follow it, we'd be walking along a highway.
Well, that seemed like a bad idea. So, we debated the idea of a taxi or a bus, while we watched a bus pull up, since there just so happened to also be a bus stop right there. We decided that since it was going in the direction of IKEA, it had to take us at least somewhere near it. So we hopped on the bus. That was a great idea...until it took us in another direction and suddenly we were in a pretty neighborhood that was almost entirely opposite our previous surroundings. Needless to say, we jumped off thinking we could end up somewhere entirely different if we didn't head back the way we came now. So we walked all the way back to where we started, having to walk a very short amount along the highway type road, when the sidewalk decided to disappear. Then we were lost. And we had no idea what street were on, or we did, but no one told me. In any case, we ended up going back under the bridge to the rows of buses, handful of taxis, and make-shift market. We decided to ask the guy in the little booth near the buses what bus to take. He seemed to understand us and gave us an answer...too bad we had no idea what he said. And we felt weird having him repeat it even more than the already 2 or 3 times. So, we figured we should just take a taxi. And so we approached them. And we said, "Vorrei IKEA," which means, I would like IKEA. I know, I'm so great with Italian. Anyways, he didn't take us. He instead told us to take a bus. And he said bus 46. Well, that was helpful. All the buses were more like 50- or something. Which got us confused and since there also was no bus map (we did look for one earlier, just forgot to mention it), we didn't know what was going on. But would you know, a bus comes in minutes later, just when we were beginning to feel totally confused and ridiculously upset. So we ran to it, one of us even jumping the small railing (not me; my skills as a hurdler have yet to make themselves known), and made it on the bus, so happy with ourselves for having made it just in time. ...until we realized the bus wasn't moving for another 3 minutes, which made our odd run completely unnecessary. Oh well, I guess we can't hide being American all that well. Not to mention our ticket for the train/bus had expired at this point; if someone had checked, we all would have cried.
But anyways, when the bus finally started moving, we realized how short a distance IKEA really was, and how we could've walked it if we had only had a sidewalk. Grr. But we of course missed our bus stop. So we ended up walking for a bit anyways. Only fitting right? Good thing we were rewarding ourselves with gelato that night.
But now we're finally at IKEA!
Once we got to IKEA we had a great time. We had lunch there and I of course had meatballs, which were delicious. We took a couple funny pictures for souvenirs and I left with a pair of cheap slippers for 1.99E and measuring cups for .50E or so. The trip back was mostly uneventful, since we were lucky enough to have a group to follow to the appropriate bus stop, so we were able to get back with little trouble. The most exciting thing was Alice finding a license plate on the side of the road, which she promptly took and now has hanging in our living room. Interesting people, the people I live with.
As for Sunday, our adventures included running amok at the Fountain of Truth and the Colosseum. It was a nice walk from where we live, and we explored other areas and things along the way, including this wonderful park that I am super fond of. It had a most wonderful view:
The Colosseum was so different from pictures; there were people EVERYWHERE!!!! It is definitely a tourist thing. And apparently the guys who dress up in gladiator costume can swindle you out of a lot of money if you take pictures with them, according to Alice, who said her mother had them take pictures with them. So we avoided them. But we laughed about them from afar. Especially one guy whose shift must have ended, because he decided to change into his street clothes at his post. It was kinda entertaining, and we were all sad to see he dressed a bit similar to a hobo, so we hoped he wasn't poor. But to give you an idea of the scale:
A little insane. To give you the whole picture though:
We checked out some other cool things too, such as Circus Maximus, the temple of Venus, and a few other things. We basically went touring, following Alice's lead since she's been all around Rome for the most part, because of her family vacation before the semester began. So we have our own personal tour guide, but I hope we find a few things she hasn't done as the semester goes on, so it's not too same old same old.
Anyways, the rest of the night was pretty blah since we were all so exhausted, so now we're just kinda doing the school thing. Classes have been going pretty alright, just a bit slow, but otherwise not terrible. I understand what's going on more today, since the teachers were more specific for what we need to have done for Friday in studio. The other assignments are my goals for the next few minutes, once I'm done blogging.
As for our plans for the weekend? Well, it looks like we're going to Paris. It should be lots of fun, since going to Paris has been a dream for me since third grade. Our plane tickets were a bit of a mess, but it should all work out alright. That's a story for another day in any case.
Hmmm, anything else I should say? Well...I should change my earlier statement about mosquitoes; they still exist and enjoy attacking us in the night. And they're creepier looking here, with black and white legs; they're just more hideous looking. Flies are few if any still though, thankfully. And pizza continues to make me a happy camper. I want some now. A lot.
I guess that's all. I'll post pictures of studio on here tomorrow or later today. Ciao!
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