A Weekend in Rome!

This past weekend, I visited a new country! My roommate, Paige, and I went to Rome for the weekend... but with our late night/early morning flights (RyanAir gets ya every time) we really only spent one day in Rome. But it was worth it!

On Friday, right after school at 2pm, I went straight to the train station so we could catch the 2:16 train. We thought we would be cutting it close, but the train didn't show up until 3pm. When we got to Madrid, we took the metro to the airport, checked in, got something to eat, and then boarded our flight to Roma! When we arrived in Rome, it was nearly midnight. We flew into the Ciampinno airport (an airport that mainly services RyanAir... that should tell you something). We thought it would be wise to book a hotel near the airport since we were getting in late and flying out early Sunday morning. That way, we wouldn't have to worry about finding a hostel in the city so late at night. On the map, it looked like our hotel was RIGHT NEXT TO the airport. We thought we would just take a taxi to the hotel and it wouldn't cost very much. Well, the problem was that in between the very little space between the hotel and the airport on the map... was the runway. So there was no way we could walk to our hotel without going up and around, which required us to walk on the freeway. So we told the (unlicensed) taxi driver where we wanted to go and he said it would cost us 35 euros each! Uhh... no. So we went inside to ask a man who worked at the airport and he said our only option was a taxi. Then he told us he was off work in 15 minutes and we was willing to take us for free. Paige and I looked at each other and we both read each other's minds: "Is he being nice or creepy?" We ended up running into two other girls (from Spain) who were trying to get to the same hotel. One of the girls said she would go out by herself to ask a taxi driver how much it would cost since she had "darker hair". She came back and told us the taxi driver said it would cost 28 euros total - 7 euros each (by the way, it was the SAME taxi driver who told us earlier it would be 35 euros EACH). We all agreed that 7 euros each was much better. Once we got to the taxi, he upped the price to 29 euros because we had luggage. (Well, of course we had luggage, we just got off an airplane.) Then when we got to the hotel, he tried to tell us it was going to cost 30 euros... but there was no reason for upping the price this time! We gave him 29 euros and quickly got out of the car. 

After this experience, Paige and I were really hoping that things were going to go a little more smoothly on this trip... and thankfully, they did! The rest of the trip was incredible and we LOVED our one day in the great city of Rome.  We bought a hop-on hop-off bus ticket and toured the city (in the sun! finally!) on the top of a double-decker bus, listening to cheesy facts about Rome. We got off to see the Vatican, the Spanish Steps, the Coliseum, and of course... to eat the most incredible Italian food! We had Margherita pizza for lunch and crepes and gelato for our afternoon snack :) ... before this trip, Paige didn't even know what a crepe was and had never tried one! And we all know how much she loves her Nutella... I think her exact words were, "This is the best thing I've ever eaten."

Coliseum

Spanish Steps

Vatican

Vatican

Inside the Vatican

Nutella Crepes and Gelato!

Margherita Pizza

On top of the Spanish Steps

A little adventure in Zagarolo...

After spending the entire day in Rome, we decided to head back to our hotel. Our plan was to just relax, watch a movie, and maybe find some more pizza later. We went to the train station to buy our tickets and the machine said our train was leaving in a half hour. However, we saw on the screen that a train going through Ciampino (our stop) was leaving in 5 minutes... so we decided to board that train instead. As you're reading this, you're probably thinking, why would you do that? Yeah, it was a dumb decision. Sure enough, the train goes through Ciampino... but doesn't stop in Ciampino. When we sped by our stop, you should have seen the look on Paige's face. (Paige is the type of person who doesn't like spontaneous adventures... she likes plans!) 

So we got off at the first stop we came to... some deserted area called "Zagarolo" and we sat and waited for a train going back the other way... and a train that would actually stop at Ciampino. We waited for about an hour. Good thing we had some entertainment... the man sitting on the bench next to us decided to just take off his pants... and then when I was shooing a bug away from my face, the conductor across the platform thought I was waving to him... so that made the rest of our time there a little awkward...

You didn't believe me, did you?

We eventually made it back to our hotel and then went out for some more pizza. The next morning, we took a shuttle bus to the airport (FOR ONLY 1.20...), flew back to Madrid and hung out in the train station for a couple of hours. While we were hanging out in the train station, many things happened: we helped guide a blind man to the bathroom, Paige spent nearly 15 euros on a scoop of dried fruit and some nuts (haha sorry, Paige), and I bought some popcorn out of a portable popcorn machine that talked and played music (it was pretty cool). 

Cool popcorn machine :)

We made it back to Caceres around 9pm Sunday night! Definitely a great weekend! 

Alejandro teaching a math lesson last week

School is still going well and so are my afternoons with the English Immersion class and tutoring! Alejandro (my supervisor who was visiting last week) flew back to the U.S. today. Last Thursday, my host family invited him over for dinner. Lola made tortilla patata, gazpacho, Spanish salad, and we had a mixture of meats and cheeses from Extremadura. Even though there's a chance that Alejandro could read this, I HAVE to share this story with all of you. When Alejandro first came in the door that night, he turned (I think he went to give Lola a flower plant that he bought her) and his backpack hit the lamp on the entry table, which knocked over two photo frames and a plate. Everything broke and glass shattered all over the floor. I tried SO hard to keep from laughing but I couldn't help it. I guess I was the only one who thought it was funny (or at least showed it at the time). The first thing he said was, "Did I do that?" He felt so bad and I felt bad for laughing, but it was pretty funny. He kept saying "Shut up, Shea!" then said he was going to fail me. So if he is reading this, I'm sure he'll really fail me... but it's a good story, right? I think it's worth sharing :) But it also means I might not graduate in a couple weeks... 

Beautiful dinner prepared by my host mom

My English Immersion class is going so well. Last week, we played games like "Slap the Word" and "The Hot Seat". I've also decided to teach the students a song during the last ten minutes of every class. Last week, we sang "Dancing in the Moonlight" by Toploader. Today, we sang "Stuck Like Glue" by Sugarland. If you have any suggestions for songs, let me know! Simple lyrics, appropriate words, etc. :) Last Thursday after my class, a 6th grade girl gave me a hug and told me how much she enjoys my English class and that my classes are the best. Moments like that are what keep me going and I know I'm in the right profession! #proudteachermoment 

Also, as promised, here is the final project of the quilt that the students made last week:

Oh, and here is a picture of the 7 year old twin girls that I am tutoring... they were obsessed with my phone last week and I got an adorable picture of the two of them. Aren't they cute?!

 Hasta luego!