...you know the rest!
This past weekend, I lived out my childhood dream of going to Verona. If you know me, you're probably wondering why that was such a huge dream of mine because I'm really not a reader, and especially not a Shakespeare reader. BUT, more importantly, Letters To Juliet was filmed in Verona. My mom and I can probably quote this movie word-for-word, and I'm pretty sure she has asked past friends/boyfriends whether or not they have seen the movie as a standard for judgment ;)
It really was lovely, and such a perfect trip. One of the better ones I've been on, for sure. We left early Friday morning, got to Verona at 10 am, and made it to our apartment to drop our backpacks off. Ok I don't know what we did to deserve the apartment we got, but it was so beautiful. When trying to find which building it was, we accidentally walked into it thinking "no way this is way to fancy we need to get out of here before we get yelled at", and what do ya know it was ours. What was even more beautiful than the winding staircase? We each had our OWN double bed in our OWN rooms! I don't think I've ever been so grateful for my own space. Anyway, we dropped our stuff off, and headed toward the "Casa de Giulietta", took a million and five pictures, witnessed a proposal on the famous balcony, and then went and got lunch before doing some shopping and more sightseeing.
I went with my friend, Mansi, who I met on the trip to Prague. She is studying abroad at The American University of Rome, goes to school in Kalamazoo, Michigan, but lives in Nepal (near India). We both have the "go with the flow" traveling style, and this made things really easy. We pretty much hit all of the touristy spots we wanted to see, such as the Arena di Verona, Casa de Giulietta, and Tomba di Giulietta, and then aimlessly shopped and wondered around the city, with really no agenda. What was so nice about Verona was that the city is so small, it was actually hard to get lost. It is surrounded by a river on each side, so it was so stress-free figuring out where we were.
Friday night, we were both talking about how we wanted to get away from the basic Italian food, so we got Sushi, and stopped at Venchi, a famous chocolate factory in Italy, for some chocolate, and went back to the apartment. I was so happy to just shower, and get in bed and watch Grey's Anatomy for the night (with chocolate of course).
It was so nice actually relaxing on a trip for once. People sometimes think we need to just keep going all night long when traveling, but this truly felt like a "vacation".
Saturday morning, I slept in, and got up just in time to be out of the apartment by 10am. We were lucky enough to be able to keep our backpacks at the apartment until we had to catch our train. We went to a brunch place, which apparently is a huge hit in Verona. They asked us if we had reservations when we walked in, but still managed to sit us (thank God, because it was SO good). It was an all American breakfast that started off with fruit infused water, "American" coffee, and a greek yogurt parfait. Then came the eggs, potatoes, bacon, spinach, all with a 3-grain bagel with banana bread. It was seriously so wonderful, and so delicious, and so cheap for all that we got! Plus, it left me stuffed until 7pm!
After brunch, we had about 5 hours to kill. We finished off our list of stereotypical tourist stuff, and then hit some boutiques and markets before heading to the train station in the pouring rain (God forbid we pay for a taxi)!
Overall, I really loved the idea of a day trip. It was so nice getting home Saturday night, still having all day Sunday to catch up on studying.
I had the remaining of my exams this past week, as well as a paper. Now, I am pretty much free for another month, except for a project and small papers.
Also, my parents will be here in 12 DAYS. I don't know if it can come fast enough, but I am so so so looking forward to having them here. They will be here til November 1, and from there, I have something planned every weekend until I leave, so I'm hoping it will go a bit faster than the first half has. I can't wait to show them around my neighborhood. I think they may be disappointed with my lack of food knowledge here, but I have at least figured out who makes the best cappuccino!
I have been doing better. I am realizing the short amount of time I have left in Rome, and that is really helping. I have reached the halfway point, and I'm hoping it will only get easier from here.
Anyway, I am in Rome for the weekend. Next weekend I am going on a day trip to Perugia for chocolate fest with my school, but that is it!
Thanks for checking in!
Love,
Marisa
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