Rome Gets a New Caesar

January 26-29
Rome, Italy

If you think I am bossy normally, don’t ever go on a trip with me (especially in Europe). I have only known the three other A&M girls for three weeks now, which is why they did not know what they were getting into when they agreed to go to Rome for the weekend. They got a dictator.

Caesar Emelia

We decided to go to Rome on Monday night of that week when we saw it was one of the cheapest ticket options. We bought our tickets a few hours later. Once the tickets were bought, I planned out a whole 3-day itinerary thanks to AI and Rick Steves. You either die or live long enough to become your parents and by the looks of my annotated Rick Steves's ‘Best of Europe’... I’ve gone to the dark side. It's the off-season right now, which was great for our procrastination. We got our hostel, Vatican Museum, and Colosseum tickets all on Thursday night.

Rick Telling me About the Colosseum 

We left Friday afternoon since we didn't have any classes. We flew out of Strasbourg straight to Rome. Friday morning we went to the Colosseum and Roman Forum. I made sure everyone downloaded the Rick Steves app and then downloaded his audio tours for both. The audio guides were very helpful because the Colosseum doesn't have any information plaques and the Roman Forum only has a few. One of the craziest facts was that the Romans had a 100-day festival to celebrate the Colosseum's inauguration, and so many men and animals were killed it was 1 death every 5 minutes. I applaud the Romans' stamina because I think I would have gotten a little tired of the celebrations and killings. Afterward, we ate lunch at one of the best sandwich places in Rome. I waited 45 minutes in line just to order a mystery sandwich. They moved so fast and I couldn’t see the menu, so the employee made me his favorite sandwich. It was amazing!!! I think it had jambon (judging from the pig legs hanging in the place), cream and pistachio sauce on focaccia bread, and maybe cheese too (I don’t remember). We grabbed our sandwiches and ate on the steps of a fountain 20 feet away from the Pantheon. Just a normal day in Italy. We then explored more of Ancient Rome.

Threw a Coin in so I'll be Back in
Rome for a 3rd Time

The next day we spent in Vatican City. We went to St. Peter’s Basilica and then the Vatican Museum which has the Sistine Chapel. I didn’t listen to Rick’s audio guide, even though I had it downloaded, but I still read the guide in the book, so I knew enough. We then went to a pizza place that I found thanks to TikTok (it gave me all the good food recs), and waited about an hour to order our pizza. Another girl and I waited while the other two decided it wasn’t worth it and went to a restaurant. The only people in line spoke Italian, which was a good sign. The pizza was the best pizza I’ve ever had!!! I don’t know what we got but it was delicious. We then walked around eventually making our way to the Spanish Steps and Trevi Fountain.

Day 3 I woke up early to go to mass at St. Peter’s Basilica. Mass was at the front altar which was beautiful. I then came back to a giant flea market outside our hostel that stretched for miles. I don’t know how I feel about one booth selling an iPod shuffle. We spent the rest of the day wondering and ended with a ghost tour. We were the coolest people on the tour and the guide loved our enthusiasm. Dinner that night was pasta (and you know it's good when a Nonna's hand-making it inside).

Tiramisu and Gelato So Good I Had to Get it Twice

Our first hostel was a win. We stayed all four nights there. It had 5 beds and a bathroom in one room. The 5th member was an 18-year-old French Canadian who was traveling before he started pilot school. He became our obsession. He was super nerdy and weird but we ate it up. I could write a separate blog post on the stories he told us. Saturday night we dragged him to dinner with us, and after hearing he’s never had a Shirley Temple, we got them for the whole table. Édouard, you will be missed.

Overall it was a great first trip all thanks to me doing all the planning and controlling almost everything we did. I’ve come to the realization that if I ever seriously dated someone I would have to travel with them. If they don’t travel the same way I do or are willing to change to my way, it’s goodbye. I’m not playing when it comes to my future travel buddy.

Still haven’t processed that I can travel like this on the weekends. Maybe it’ll kick in when I buy my next ticket.

Au revoir!

Sing to me Paolo

"Let her be French!" - Marie Antoinette

 

January 15-22

Each day I succumb more and more to the French, although I am a very willing participant. I’ve never been out of the country for more than two weeks. I was a little worried that I would start to miss America but so far I haven't paid her any attention- France is too appealing. 

The Business School Bar

My first class was Wednesday. I attended Intro to Finance and French Culture. The finance class at A&M is super hard so I was waiting to take it here. The professor explained the concepts using demonstrations so I understood them really well. I left the lecture understanding everything, which usually doesn’t happen in classes involving math. I am in a group project with a Brazilian, two Spaniards, and another A&M girl. We have to do financial reporting on French publicly traded companies and it's worth 30% of our grade. The other 70% of our grade comes from our final exam. I’m trying not to think about that too much. I love my French culture class. It is very discussion-based, so I got to hear about how other culture’s mindsets and practices differ. I sat next to two Hungarians and it was interesting to hear their perspectives. They said there’s a Hungarian saying that they are 30 years behind everyone else. We talked about the French government and politics. In the French constitution, the government should provide them with happiness rather than the ‘pursuit of happiness’ in America. My professor says this is why the French protest and demand a lot from their government. Interesting what a word can do. The only downside is lectures here are 3 hours. But don’t worry there’s a fully operating bar in the business school in case I ever want to pregame lecture. 

On the Dancefloor

Colmar

On Friday we went to Colmar, the inspiration for Belle’s town in Beauty and the Beast. It was very picturesque. Saturday we were planning on going on a hike in another neighboring town but rocks fell on the train line so the train was shut down. RIP. We decided to do a pastry crawl instead. I had my hopes on 10 pastries but a cream puff did me in. My crawl came out to be a tiramisu eclair, an almond croissant, and a cream puff. Saturday night we went to a party hosted by the international exchange group called Erasmus. They host about 4-6 events each week and I’ve gone to some. We got there 40 minutes late but forgot that some cultures arrive 2 hours late so the party was slow at the start. Eventually, it got good and I made friends with a group of Columbias. I then experienced my first European club! We were shazaming all the French songs so we know them for next time. There were some bangers! The DJ rotated between French and American songs, occasionally playing a Spanish song. Every time he played an American song half the club went crazy and then he'd play a French song and the other half went crazy. We tapped out at 4am and as we were leaving people were still coming in. Closing is 7am, a little different than America’s 2am. I wonder if we’ll analyze why in my French culture class. 

I rotate between exploring and eating and exploring while eating. If I was a peasant and Marie Antoinette told me to eat cake, I wouldn’t have had to be told twice. Give me a few more weeks here and the French flair for protesting might rub off on me though.

I booked my flight to Rome for this weekend so I'll update on my sit down with the Pope.

Au revoir!

Ellis Islanding it in Strasbourg

January 8-14

Strasbourg, France

I drained a year off of my life trying to get from DFW to Strasbourg. I had very little faith in myself, if any, that I could do my plane, train, train, taxi, and keep to schedule. Spoiler alert: I made it to Strasbourg. Honestly, I was impressed by how well I was navigating the DFW and Frankfurt airport. It kinda got my hopes up that I was going to make it there no problem. So naturally, I missed my first train shortly after. Not my fault though. There was a “train area” in the airport that I assumed trains left out of. You could buy tickets there, they had an information booth- everything. So I bought a ticket and asked for assistance on where the train leaves from. He assured me that all of them leave from this one area and all head to the same place. I was a little confused, but then again when am I not when it comes to directions and traveling. So the “train” comes right around when it should so I go on. And it looks like a subway…. After being on it for 30 minutes, I then realized that I was on a subway (without a ticket), missed my first train, and now have to find my way to the train station in Frankfurt. At this point I had reached the end of the line so I got out and caught the one heading back. I then realized that the train station was a stop on the subway. After that, I thankfully got another ticket and was able to take my 2 trains and then a taxi to my apartment all on time. Oh, and this whole time I couldn't find my charger so I had to power it off most of the time. I arrived in Strasbourg with 3%. And my stupid suitcase that’s the size of a baby elephant bruised my knee, cut my finger, and scraped the skin off of my knuckles trying to maneuver it around. 

Cathedral

View from my Window

My apartment is super cute!! My bed is so comfortable that on the first night, I accidentally slept 21 hours (a new personal record). From my window, I look out to the river that runs through most of the city. It looks fake when you see the swans swimming in it. I am about a 5-minute walk to this giant Cathedral. The four other A&M students who are studying here too had not arrived yet, so I was Ellis Islanding* it. I got to explore the city by myself and get to adjust for the first few days. The three A&M girls arrived Friday (I got there Monday) and after that, we’ve been hanging out since. We met up at a bar with some other foreign exchange students and for the first time ever I was told that my name was the easiest to pronounce (compared to Lauren, Sophia, and Sanjana). European name coming in clutch! The exchange students seem eager to meet people and hang out which is exciting. 

Strasbourg doesn’t seem French most of the time, just standard European, then I’ll see people eating a whole baguette and think again. The architecture here looks out of a storybook. I've been getting everywhere on foot, so I get to enjoy it all. It has been in the 20s, so I leave my apartment bundled every day for my walks. It won't really warm up till April so I'll have to get used to the weather. It snowed today and I don’t know what was more of a culture shock, the fact that I am now living in France, or the fact that it was snowing. 

Nothing too crazy has happened but I start class on Wednesday and will travel someplace this weekend so I’ll have more updates for later.

Au revoir!

*Ellis Islanding: a word I just made up meaning you are figuring it out in a foreign/different situation ex: I am all alone in a foreign country where I don’t speak the language. Looks like I’m Ellis Islanding it for now.