So Much Fun, I Nearly Died

I'm joking, I didn't nearly die. I just exhausted myself this weekend!

Friday, after doing all that sightseeing I talked about in the last post, I went out with some friends, and we stayed out really late. Here is a picture of the crew during our stop at Hard Rock Cafe. (Did you know there's one in Rome? They're everywhere. The others said I ought to buy a shirt because it was my first visit to any Hard Rock Cafe, but I kind of felt like it was overrated, so I didn't.) Left to right-- Renato, Katie, Nancy, and Claudia:

And yes, our dessert really was that huge. I mean, it was closer to me than to them when I took this picture, but it was definitely a good size. We had a hard time finishing it between the five of us. Renato took us to a few different places that he knew, just to let us get a feel for Rome's fun nightlife without feeling like we were risking our lives! So we had dessert at Hard Rock, a drink at a pub called Abbey Theater (an Irish pub in Rome, if you can believe it), and danced a little at a place called Anima. It wasn't a club per se, since it was small and didn't have cover charge or anything, but you could dance there and they had live DJ's, so it was a pretty fun place. We met a few Italians and a guy from France, all of whom were quite nice. The Italians were of course extremely friendly...that is to say, almost too friendly...and we girls were the only Americans in the place, and the guys outnumbered the girls there, so naturally they all wanted to dance with us. Well, dancing with an Italian is only a good idea if you are willing to be downright mean to make sure they don't get too touchy. Of course, Renato being there helped, but I still had to spend half the time enforcing my rules. ("Oh no you don't!") It's partially a cultural thing, and partially just the club environment. I decided afterward that it was fun, and interesting to meet the people, but not an environment I could ever really be comfortable in, so I'm not planning on doing anything like that again. But Alisha, you should be satisfied now. I danced with Italians, and that's all you could ask for, right?

That cultural thing I mentioned is one of the funniest things about Italy. Italians just don't have the same ideas about personal space...they don't mind getting right in each other's faces, and even the guys are a lot more willing to touch each other here than in the States. Italian guys will dance with each other, especially if there is a girl shortage, and you'll see groups of guys hugging and putting their arms around each other and just generally seeming to be all over each other by American standards, but here it's just normal for friends to be affectionate like that. (They don't usually kiss each other, though. I've seen movies with Italian guys kissing each other on the cheeks to say hello, but I haven't actually seen it much here. The women are usually the ones who will greet each other with kisses.) We talked about the whole issue with Renato, who said, "Americans, especially American guys, are way too self-conscious about that." I dunno, I kinda like my space, but it is also nice to see people who aren't afraid to be affectionate.

Italian couples certainly aren't afraid of being affectionate. Good grief. I don't think I've seen more make-out sessions per day in my life. And this is not the club I'm talking about. Italians make out on buses, trains, in the middle of the street, in restaurants, etc., and we're talking about the serious, are-they-ever-going-to-come-up-for-air kind of making out. It's actually kind of awkward for us Americans to witness, but the other Italians don't seem to either notice or care. It's weird, but they're just more open about stuff like that.

Well, anyway, Friday night we stayed out late, and the bus ride home capped it all off. The regular buses stop running at midnight, but there are night buses, just fewer and farther between. The first bus we had to take, to get to the main bus station, was so packed that it took everyone a while to shift and squeeze to the point that the bus driver could get the doors shut. Talk about a sardine can. But to wait for the next bus would have taken at least half an hour, so we just crammed ourselves on. When we finally got to the bus station, Renato put us on the bus that would take us home, and it was kind of the opposite extreme. I think only two other people were on it, and nobody needed to get off until late in the route, so our driver was having way too much fun careening through the almost-deserted streets of Rome, flying around corners at breakneck speed. Have you guys ever seen Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban? If you have, just imagine Harry's Knightbus experience and you'll have it pretty close, except that ours wasn't a double decker. I kept waiting for a little shrunken head to start screaming "Take it away, Ern!" Claudia was unwise enough to stand up before we reached our stop, and she ended up flying across the bus and landing on another passenger's lap. Poor little lady. It was pretty darn funny, though. :)

So we got home around 3 am, then got up at 8 because we had plans to go to the beach!

It was just the four girls, Katie, me, Nancy, and Claudia. We rode the train to Ostia, which is about 30 miles away, on the west coast of the peninsula. Ostia is the site of Rome's ancient port city, because it's where the Tiber meets the sea. I didn't see any of the ancient stuff, because we'll see it later during my class field trip, but I'm looking forward to it. Anyway, we went to the beach, and it was fun. This beach is better than the one at Tarquinia: I only saw one topless lady the whole time, and the only people running around completely naked were little children. I tried to document the experience, but I only have one picture to show you. I can't in good conscience post some of the other ones I took, since after uploading them I saw that they contained some very scantily clad beach goers.

This one is pretty safe because it mostly depicts young men, who usually wear long boardshorts much like the guys in the States, and are therefore safe to look at. The men over, say, 25, wear really short shorts, and the ones over 40 or so tend to go for the speedo-type things. And all the women wear string bikinis. So yeah, ironically enough, the young men are pretty much the only safe ones on the whole beach! Haha.

We were tired, so we pretty much just played in the water some, and laid on the beach for the rest of the time. I used sunscreen, but for some reason forgot my back, so I have a really red circle on my back now. Lol it's better than my face, I guess, but it hurts to lay on my back or lean back against chairs. I've had lots worse, though, so I know it'll be just fine in a few days. I'm actually surprised that I hadn't burned earlier, considering the fact that I'm in the sun a lot and rarely use sunscreen. I guess I'm just increasing the freckle density ratio--since I know I don't tan. :)

So that's pretty much the story from here. Claudia and I went to church this morning, then went to the Porta Portese flea market, which is the biggest in Rome. I bought a new purse, since the one I had was white (keyword: was white) and not really a good one for staying safe against pickpockets. The bag I bought was nice and big, since I like to carry around a lot of stuff. Let's see, what's in my Mary Poppins bag now?

Camera
Cell phone
USB cable
Powder compact
Bible
Phrasebook
Guidebook
Wallet
Chapstick
Inhaler
Hairbrush
Sunglasses
Medicine
Kleenex

Yeah, it's a lot of stuff, but I just like to be prepared, you know? And I don't care if having a huge purse makes me look like a soccer-mom. I don't know anybody here, so no big deal. :)

Alright, I'm through. I love you all, see you later!