So I skipped classes, because who needs them? (Just kidding, I'm too much of a nerd. I wrote to my professors in advance and turned in all the assignments I'd need for today.) Then I met Celeste at the Piazza Venezia around ten am. She had two other friends from France that were with her, and they all were really excited to see Rome.
Morning selfie, waiting for Celeste
We met and there was a lot of hugging and being all excited and "ohmigod, how are you?" I'd missed her. She's the first person here I've seen from home. It was so great getting to talk to her. She's living with a host family in France, so her experience has been a little different from mine. We talked about how once we get back to Michigan, we're going to have dinner with all our friends and we can be all pretentious together talking about "well, when we lived in Europe…"
Roommate!
They (Celeste and her two friends) didn't have anything they really needed to see. Her only specifications were that she wanted to try pizza and coffee. Which are very, very easy to find here in Rome.
I took them on sort of a highlights of the Piazza Venezia area, so: the Colosseum, the Roman forum, the Pantheon, the really awesome gelato shop near the Pantheon, a church or two, Maria Sopre Minerva, the Spanish Steps, and the Trevi Fountain.
Look at this three-legged handsome boy
They loved the Largo Argentina, which made me really excited, because it's my favorite place in Rome. They couldn't stop raving about it. One of them said they were glad I was with them, because they would have missed it otherwise. Made me all proud inside.
And you can't go by the Pantheon without stopping by the gelato place with like 90 flavors. This time I got pink grapefruit (my favorite so far), pineapple, and champagne. Yep, champagne gelato. The flavor was pretty accurate, too.
We couldn't have asked for a better day. It was so sunny and beautiful out. Perfect weather for sightseeing and strolling. And because it was a Thursday morning, there were hardly any tourists in some places. It was wonderful. I could give them some tidbits of history as we walked past some, but sometimes I just found myself saying "well, that's a church" and "I'm sure that's something historical". It's hard to remember everything when you can't go ten feet in Rome without tripping over something historical.
After the Spanish Steps, we decided to break for lunch. We took the tram across the river to the downtown Trastevere area, because the first side gets really touristy restaurants. And because I really love downtown Trastevere. We wandered a bit until we found a place with a good pizza menu. The pizza was messy but very good, as usual, and Celeste insisted on paying for my food, which was very sweet of her.
After lunch, one of Celeste's friends wanted to go find a guy she'd met in Rome a few years ago that owned a bar. She started chatting with him so we said we'd come back to get her and went to get some after-lunch coffee.
It was really funny, because whenever I ordered in Italian, they would act all impressed, because I didn't speak any Italian before I came here. I suppose I'm good enough now to convincingly order coffee. Celeste and her friend tried an espresso each, which they thought was strong but they enjoyed it anyway, and I had my typical cappuccino. It's so satisfying after a meal. I paid for everyone this time, and afterwards we went back to collect her friend.
I saw them back to their bus and we all hugged and said goodbye. They all fell in love with Rome, it was so amazing to see. One of them was already planning a weekend back. Another asked if she could meet up with me if she came up here again soon. I hope they do. I loved sharing the city with them. I love it so much myself, I'm glad they did too.
Afterwards I was down in Piazza Venezia on a nice day, so I strolled for a little bit, looked at the Roman forum some more, checked out the Piazza del Campidoglio, went back past Largo Argentina again… I also stopped by a stand and got a few postcards, then got stamps at a Tabbachi. On the way up to my apartment, I ducked into the shop just next door and got a bottle of pop, because I was super thirsty from all the walking and I'm kind of obsessed with everything pink grapefruit flavored now.
So that's my day. Tomorrow my roommate and I are gonna get up early and go see the Roman catacombs. I've been wanting to see them since I got here, and I'm super pumped!
