Hunter family takes over Europe

This past week Piazza Regina has been full of visitors. My brother and his friend Lauren, who he lived with while he was studying in Barcelona, came to stay for a couple days. Also extremely last minute one of my good friends from Clemson who is studying in Florence came down for the weekend. It was SO NICE to have them here!
Mom left on Wednesday, so I spent all Wednesday and Thursday trying to get schoolwork done and catch up on life before everyone came into town.

Friday:
I picked up Sarah from the train station that morning. She had been to Rome a couple times, so she was more interested in just hanging out with a familiar friend than seeing the sights... which was really nice because that's exactly what I needed too. After picking her up we got lunch at a Sicilian restaurant by my apartment and talked and caught up on everything from the last semester. After that, we set out on a mission to get her a ticket to mass at the Vatican on Sunday. I had already preordered tickets for David, Lauren, and I, but I didn't know that Sarah was coming at the time.
We were told that we could go to a building by the Trevi Fountain to request another ticket. Well, we got there and didn't know the address or any which way that we were going. We finally got the address from a friend and proceeded to walk all over Rome for about an hour... passing the Trevi, Via del Corso, the President's house, the Pantheon, etc.. just to end up finding the address right back next to the Trevi Fountain........ AND it was closed. Frustrated, we headed to get gelato (naturally..) and met up with my friends. Luckily one of them told me that he had an extra ticket that Sarah could have! Wahoooo! Crisis averted.
After we solved the ticket problem, we realized we had another problem on our hands - we had nothing to wear to an Easter Sunday service that covered our knees and our shoulders. Luckily, we were already on Via del Corso so it was shopping time (one of my few times I've actually allowed myself to buy clothes in Rome). After a failed attempt at H&M, we headed to one of my new favorite stores Brandy Melville and bought two floor length skirts that are beyond comfortable. Satisfied with our purchases, we headed back to my apartment to get ready for that night.

Carrying of the Cross

That night was the Carrying of the Cross by the Pope at the Colosseum and Roman Forum. This is the only thing of Holy Week that you can go to without a ticket. Basically the Pope stands at the top of the Roman Forum and addresses the crowd as the cross is carried from station to station. Sarah and I didn't want to miss it, so we headed out early to make sure we would be able to see. It was pretty warm out (around 70 degrees), so we wore sundresses. Big mistake. They had the Colosseum metro station closed, so we had to walk from Circus Maximus. Then we got there and everyone was in jackets and pants and boots (typical Rome) and we were in sundresses. We got quiet a few stares, to say the least. Anyway, we got pretty good seats where we could see the lower crowd and the Pope and stayed for about an hour. During the service we made friends with a priest in Rome and talked to him most of the time. He was from Spain and so nice.
After that we headed out to the Spanish Steps to hang out and drink some wine. I really forgot how much I missed just hanging out with my good friends from Clemson. I'm so much closer to them than I was able to become with anyone from Rome, so it was awesome to be able to sit on the Spanish Steps and talk about everything. After that we met up with a ton of people in Testaccio at a bar called On the Rox.  A ton of people from Clemson had come into town, so Clemson basically took over the entire bar. After that we all headed to a couple of the clubs in the area. At one of the clubs this girl got on stage (that we did NOT know) and made a complete fool of herself - she was dancing just a little too intensely by herself. Literally the entire bar stopped to watch.

Saturday:
I woke up on Saturday and went and picked up Lauren from her flight to Rome. She got in a couple hours before David did, so in the mean time we headed to pick up our tickets from the Vatican for the Easter Sunday mass. Only one of us was allowed in, so I went since they were under my name. It was actually really cool - I got to go past all the guards and past the tourists into a back room to pick them up. One of the Swiss guards even wished me a 'Buona Pasqua' (happy easter).
After getting our tickets we headed to Cul du Sac, one of my favorite restaurants by Piazza Navona. We had cheese fondue then each got three different kinds of Roman pasta so we could try all three. After a gelato stop, we ran to Termini to be able to pick up David.
Once David got here, we were all exhausted so we headed back so Sarah and Lauren could nap. I headed to the area around me with David, including going to Piazza Bologna and stopping by my school. After we got back we got ready and headed to Tony's for dinner... always delicious. That night we wandered around Trastevere to a couple bars and hung out enjoying the Italian scene there. On our way back home, we ran into the same Clemson people we had gone out with the night before, so we headed to Campo dei Fiori with them. We ended there pretty fast because we had to be up early for Easter mass the next day.

Easter Sunday:

David and I in front of St Peter's for Easter

Freshman year reunion!

We got up at 5:45 EEEK to get to St. Peter's for Easter mass. In order to get a good seat, you have to be there super early. Since this was probably the only time we'll ever go to Easter mass at the Vatican, we definitely wanted good seats. We got there around 7:30 to wait in the massive line to get in. While waiting in line, Sarah and I actually saw not one, but TWO people that we were really close with freshman year. One was our neighbor freshman year Meredith who is studying in Rome and the other was Griffin, who is also studying abroad. It was hilarious because we don't even run into each other in Clemson, much less at Easter mass at the Vatican.

The Pope!

Some of the flags of different countries

Lauren, David, Sarah, and I at Easter mass

Once they finally opened the gates, we all sprinted inside to get the best seats. We ended up around the 20th row back in the middle, AWESOME seats! The entire thing was surreal that we were actually at mass at the Vatican on Easter Sunday. The service was awesome. Since it is all in Latin, we were given programs that had all the translations to English so we were able to follow along. I've never done so much sitting then standing in my life. After the service, the Pope went up to his balcony to say a few more words, then blessed everyone in each language. It was so cool because so many nationalities brought their flags and would cheer whenever he spoke in their language. It really felt like everyone was uniting.
After the service, we headed to lunch at a pretty touristy place since the Vatican doesn't have many restaurants around it. Then we went to Castel Sant'Angelo and walked around there and checked out the gorgeous views. One of the exhibits that was closed last time I went was open this time, so it was cool getting to see a new part. Once we were done with that, Sarah and Lauren went to take naps while David and I headed to the Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps. After pushing our way through the hoards of tourists, we headed back for naps. That night we were exhausted, so we just went to a restaurant below me for dinner and went to bed pretty early.

Monday:

Drinking our beers by the church

Monday Sarah left early because she had some homework to finish before class on Tuesday. This was our main touristy day. We started out at Piazza Barberini then headed to toss some coins in the Trevi Fountain. We made our way next to the Pantheon then Piazza Navona. We stopped at one of my favorite pizza places that I discovered with my mom - Il Paino. We made our way over to the market in Campo dei Fiori, even though most of it was closed because it was a national holiday.
Next we continued down through Piazza Venezia to the Colosseum and Roman Forum. I didn't want to pay to go in when I've already been in three times (hasn't changed in thousands of years... I don't think it's really going to change much in a month haha), so I took a nap in this field that overlooks the Colosseum while Lauren and David explored.
Once they were done, Lauren was exhausted so she headed back to my apartment while David and I continued our whirlwind Rome tour with the Mouth of Truth, Circus Maximus, and the keyhole. While on Aventine hill at the keyhole, we decided to check out some of the churches in the area. There was a church that brewed its own beer, so we grabbed two to try and sat at this view overlooking all of Rome and the Vatican to drink them while the sun went down. It was gorgeous.

Qube

That night we headed to one of my favorite clubs called Qube. It is a legit Roman club - nothing like you would find most places in the United States. Also about 90% of the people there are Italian that don't even speak English. Definitely a cultural experience. That night was the Easter celebration and it was packed. They even had a guy dressed as a chick coming out of an egg on stage. Definitely quite a different way of celebrating Easter.




Tuesday:

Hunters by the hunter in the Vatican

Sistine Chapel

This was David and Lauren's last day in Rome. We got up and headed to our reservations at the Vatican Museums. I had yet to go into the Vatican Museums or see the Sistine Chapel, so I was really excited. And let me tell you, they are HUGE. We spent about 2-3 hours there and didn't even see half of it. It was exhausting, but also so cool to see it all because I had studied everything there in one of my classes. I was really excited to have finally seen it.
After that, we headed to the Spanish Steps to get some lunch. We went to this really good pizzeria and I got CARBONARA pizza.... my two favorite things combined! It was amazing. The sauce was this delicious cheesy sauce then it had bacon on top and a fried egg in the middle. Oh my gosh so good.

Carbonara pizza!

Next Lauren wanted to go shopping, so David and I sprinted to the Capuchin Crypt beneath the Capuchin Church of the Immaculate Conception. This is a crypt with the bones of 4,000 monks all arranged in elaborate designs. Literally there were bones EVERYWHERE - all over every wall, stacked on top of each other, making alters... even the lights were made of bones. It was incredible, and so creepy. I definitely suggest that anyone in Rome goes to this, because it's unlike anything else you'll ever see in your life.

Amy, Dom Mazzetti, and I

After this we headed home for naps and showers. That night we headed to one of my favorite restaurants called Maccheroni for some fresh made pasta. So delicious, as is everything in Rome (and that my weight gain can vouch for). We headed to Campo dei Fiori to meet up with some of my friends. Dom Mazzetti was also there, so we obviously got a picture with him. For those who don't know, he's known for a bunch of YouTube videos he's done. We hung out at Campo dei Fiori for a little bit before going to a club called La Maison. We lost track of time and before we knew it we needed to get home for Lauren and David to be able to catch their flight to Barcelona. We got home and I immediately passed out while Lauren and David headed to the airport. Luckily, they made it with plenty of time to spare.

Wednesday: 
I had classes Wednesday and spent the day packing and catching up on a lot of work that I had been putting off while my brother was there. I had a paper due Thursday (wait, we actually have to do work here?) so I spent the day working on that.

Thursday:
I had my art class and we headed to some of the churches in the area surrounding Piazza Barberini. Unfortunately my friend Christina had her iPhone stolen at one of the churches. WHO STEALS IN A CHURCH?! After class I headed back and grabbed my stuff to head to Barcelona to meet back up with Lauren and David.

Melissa, Lauren, David, and I at Rosa Negra

Lauren and I at Chupitos

When I got to Barcelona, my brother had come to the piazza where my bus dropped off to meet me... and I just missed him. I had no way to reach him, so we waited at the apartment until he eventually came back. That night we headed to Rosa Negra for mojitos (David's favorite) and Princessa for dinner. After that we went to Chupitos, our favorite shot bar in Barcelona. Here they have all different kinds of themed shots that are so much fun. I even saw my friend Lauren there, who is in my sorority at Clemson! After that stroll down memory lane, we headed back to our apartment so we could get a good night's sleep before sightseeing the next day.

Friday: 

David and I at Park Guell

Sagrada Familia

On Friday we headed to the Cathedral first then to get some coffee and picnic supplies before heading to Park Guell. We spent the afternoon eating and walking around Park Guell, which is always gorgeous. It was supposed to rain but it held off, which was really nice. After that David and I headed to Sagrada Familia so I could snap a few pictures then went on a walk along the water with a stop at La Boqueria. We got potatas bravas from the restaurant in La Boqueria... yum, and stopped for our favorite fruit juices before going back to the apartment.

Patatas Bravas

That night I wanted a meal of real tapas, so we headed to a place by the Cathedral. It was so good - David had mussels and we split chicken skewers, spinach with chickpeas, chorizo, and potatas bravas. So good.
After dinner we headed back to the apartment to get ready to go out that night. We hit up one of David's old scenes - the beach clubs. We got there and went to this Irish pub that they used to go to, then headed to Opium. We were able to get into VIP too which was cool. I was excited because this was the main club I didn't get a chance to make it to last time I was there.

Saturday:

David and I in front of the old town

Sangria!

Gorgeous

For Saturday we got up and headed to Sitges! Once we got there, it was SO WINDY so we ducked into a cute little restaurant and got some pinchos and wine. We had this pincho that was bread, ham, and cheese and it was deliciousss. After that it had warmed up so we headed down the beach to a little market where we bought fresh bread made on the street and some olives to eat up by the church. We crossed into the old town and stopped at a bar on the water and had some Sangria that was delicious. I forgot how absolutely gorgeous Sitges is. After hanging out there and enjoying the scenery, we headed back to Barcelona for dinner.

David and Lauren's paella

In Barcelona we were all exhausted so we took naps then went to a paella place. David, Lauren, and Melissa got paella and they were HUGE. They looked delicious... but I don't like seafood so I got roasted chicken and rice. It was actually the best chicken I've had since I came to Europe, and it was only seven euro! Once we finished dinner we went back to the apartment. David and I were planning on going out, but we had early flights so we ended up just trying to go to some bars around us. We went to this bar that was supposed to be a Clemson bar decorated in Clemson memorabilia, but it turns out it just offers discounts to Clemson students and has a hat hanging from the bar. Nevertheless, it was still pretty cool to see Clemson stuff in Barcelona.

Sunday:
All our flights were pretty early on Sunday, so we all headed to the airport and said our goodbyes. It was so awesome having my brother here for so long, especially since I don't see him very much at home being so far apart. I headed back to Rome and started to work on the long week of homework and projects that I have this week. Ever since I've been home I've basically been working on homework. This is the last week of school, so we have all our final papers, etc due this week.



It's crazy to think that this journey is almost over. After 3 1/2 months being in Italy, I can't fathom how I'm going to readjust to living in the United States. It seems so distant and different now. Although recently I've been much more homesick and anxious to get back, the experiences I've had during this semester abroad have been life changing and I wouldn't change it for a thing. I just can't wait to see what these final two weeks have in store!