Italy: Day 4

Well...we started off the morning to a late start. Bliss wanted to try and make the American brunch on campus which lasted from 10-12pm. I got up around 10am and was just about to jump in the shower when Michael called (my boyfriend). Since I rarely get the chance to talk to him, we talked for awhile.Then by the time I had showered and gotten ready, we had about a half hour to get to brunch.

We attempted to get on the tram, but the first one that went by was too crowded, so we waited for the next one. The next one wasn't any better. There was literally no breathing room. We were planning on meeting Tim at the tram stop that is by campus. We got there at about the same time, and realized that we were too late for brunch. So we hoped a train back to where we started and hit up the flea market for awhile.

The flea market starts right by our apartment and is about 2 km long. It was very overwhelming. The first stand we see was selling all kinds of birds. I started jumping up and down like a little girl because they were only 8 Euro a piece. I wanted to buy one soooo bad, but Bliss and Tim wouldn't let me. Then, to my absolute amazement, there was a cage with three CHIPMUNKS!! Never in my life would I imagine having a chipmunk as a pet. One chipmunk was doing blackflips!!

While walking through the market, I had one thing on my mind: a purse. The purse I brought along isn't the type that is safest from being stolen. I wanted to by a shoulder strap one. We finally came along a place where I liked the purses. The guy selling the purses came up to me and said he would give me a great deal, but only for me, no one else. He said it was because I was "hot and irresistable." These sellers don't take no for an answer. Before they tell you the price, they start putting things in a bag for you. Finally I ended up with two purses for 45 Euro.

The only other exciting thing at the market was an Italian man saying "Hello my baby" to me. We didn't really purchase anything, because we just wanted to see what they had. We plan to get up much earlier next Sunday and do some intense shopping.

Then we headed over to the Vatican. We took the tram as far as we could, then walked the rest of the way, since we haven't figured out the bus system yet. When we finally reached the Vatican, I thought Tim was going to pass out from excitement. He comes from a very Catholic family and plans to go to the Vatican at least once a week. As we were walking towards the Vatican, a irrate women was walking down the street screaming in Italian and obnoxiously spitting in disgust about something. No of us knew what she was screaming about.

After taking a million pictures from the outside of the Vatican, we finally decided to go in. After passing through security, we went through another area where they checked clothing. By this I mean, they were kicking women out if their shoulders weren't covered or the knees were showing. I was amazed at the amount of people who were being turned away.

We first headed to the tombs of the past popes. The last pope whom died (sorry that I don't know names, I wasn't raised Catholic), had two body gaurds around his tomb. There was also a viewing area where many people stood and prayed or cried. People also layed roses (only roses, no other flower) and pictures by the tomb. It was amazing how every single tomb was unique. None looked like any other.

We all made it throught the tombs pretty quickly. And we noticed at the end that Tim had disappeared. That last time anyone had seen him he was by Pope John Paul (whom he was most excited to see). After waiting at least five minutes, he finally showed up. He was having the time of his life.

The architecture inside the Vatican is amazing. Everything is so detailed. I tried really hard to get some good pictures, but my camera is hitting the end of if life. So I counted on Bliss to finish taking the rest of the photos. We got to walk inside the main area of the Vatican. It was beautiful. In this area, they have pope's bodies mummified and put in glass cases for everyone to see. That came as a shocker to me. It wasn't something I was expecting.

After we headed out of the Vatican, Tim stopped to look at rosaries and we all kept walking. We noticed he had disappeared so we sat down to wait for him. When he showed up, he was thrilled about his purchase. He has gotten 3 rosaries for 30 Euro. One, to he excitement, had beads made out of rose petals and smelled good. As we continuted walking down the street, we entered a store and found the exact same rosaries for 2 Euro a piece. He definitely got screwed over on that deal!

We entered a gelato store to get some bottled water. The first thing I noticed when I walked in was the variety of shaped pasta that was for sale. And low and behold, there was penis shaped pasta!! I got very excited at this discovery and had to let everyone know about it. We plan to bring some back home!!

I found a baseball hat that I really wanted. I asked the guy how much it was and he said 1 million dollars. I told him that wasn't fair and he said "For you...only 5 Euro. But for him (pointing at Tim)...20 Euro." I purchased the hat and the sales guy tried to get Tim to buy a shirt. I think the guy thought Tim and I were a couple, because he continued to point out that I was now Tim's EX-girlfriend. Since aparently the sales man thought he had wooed me.

After that little adventure, we walked across the street to see the Castel Sant'Angelo. We decided not to pay to get in, because we were running low on time. So we took some pictures and decided to head back to our apartments. We also decided to try out the bus system. So we hoped onto a bus that we thought would bring us to the tram. At first it drove in the opposite direction that we needed to go. Then the driver stopped and got out. We were very confused. The driver was taking a smoking break!! He just parked the bus on the side of the street and left all the passengers, so he could go have a smoke.

We thought that we were lost on the bus. So we randomly got off at a stop so we could try and figure things out. Amazingly, we got off at the stop right next to the tram!! We got lucky! So we hoped the tram back to the apartments.

Bliss and I had a skype date with mom and dad. Then we headed over to Tynisha's apartment for some pizza. There was a large group of people there, and I met a lot of new people. It was a good time.

Now I am back in the apartment, waiting for my sleeping pills to kick in. Classes start tomorrow. My first one is at noon. And I have classes until 8pm. It is going to be a very long day. But I am excited to start classes.