it's friday my friends, which means the week is over!

besides it being friday, though, two days ago i graduated from high school. 

let me repeat. i graduated high school two days ago. 

woah. 

i honestly can't believe i'm a high school graduate. it literally seems like yesterday i was walking through the doors of my elementary school.

it's very bittersweet. i get to start my life in st. augustine but i'm leaving everything i've ever known.

enough of my rambling! as i promised, i'm going to do a journal entry everyday from my trip to italy! (i know i missed a couple of days, woops).

today's journal entry is all about rome!!! and boy do i have a lot to say about my first day there, lol. 

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may 27

i had to wake up at the crack of dawn this morning to catch a train to rome.

me 6 am at the santa maria novella train station

i guess it wasn't too bad--i got an italian mcdonald's breakfast (which included a cheeseburger, french fries, and a coke w/ no ice. honestly, i don't really get the whole thing about no ice. like what the heck, come on guys. cold drinks= good drinks). 

the train ride to rome was short, and good. mom and i got there around 8:30 in the morning and mom was already frazzeled. 

(p.s. this part is a little crazy & a whole joke between mom and i)

she kept saying that there were certain taxis we had to take and the "legal and correct" taxis had roma capital written in burgundy on them. now of course she told me in a very confusing way, as she was frazzled, so i didn't completely understand what she was telling me. 

then she kept saying, "i can't see, i need help". but she wouldn't clearly tell me what to look for. "lexi, i can't see" in a demon-like voice* lol

i eventually found a taxi, but mom kept screaming "roma capital, roma capital, roma capital" and so on. 

needless to say, it was a little crazy getting from the train station to our hotel.

once we got to our hotel, which i may add is in an alley way (the lady said the area was "very safe"), we dropped off our bags since we couldn't check in yet, and "hit the town" as mom likes to say.

mom and i walked to the spanish steps, since it was the closest attraction, and they were really pretty. 

fun fact: the spanish steps actually rest in front of a french church!

we walked up the steps to get a picture in front of the view (because it was gorgeous) and while mom was posing, a guy with a dozen roses walked up to her, trying to sell her a rose and she just kept smiling at me, and he kept persisting. it was actually really funny. he eventually gave up on her, and tried to get me to buy it. i unfortunately don't know how to say "no", because i took the rose and mom had to pay for it anyway. lol. 

mom was getting frazzled again. 

after we made our way down to the steps, we decided to make our way to the trevi fountain--but of course we got a lil lost. 

let me tell you how big of a mess it was over at that fountain. there were so so so many people. 

but the trevi fountain was stunning.

 

i even threw a coin in!

after this, we got lunch and decided to start heading back and on the way we stopped at the pantheon.

which was absolutely gorgeous.
on our way back from the pantheon, mom and i did a little shopping. i got to go into my favorite italian boutique, sandro ferrone. they actually opened up their first boutique in annapolis, maryland. the only one in america! so it was really cool that i got to go in one in italy! 

i bought a light, white, long sleeve blouse with bell sleeves and a navy off-the-shoulder blouse. they weren't actually very expensive and they were super cute!

once we left the store, mom and i headed back to the dark alley that our hotel was in. and guess what, the lady wasn't ready. of course.

so mom and i decided to grab a "drink" (mom's favorite word) but they didn't serve us, so we just got up and left. i'm pretty sure they forgot about us because they were super busy.

our room was finally ready close to 1:00 and the lady showed us to our room since mom was having trouble opening the door. but the lady literally walked in with us, and showed us around. but the room was very cute.

now we were meant to get free minibar items, & free water. but all we got was water. guess what? it wasn't even cold. lol this whole "no ice, no cold" thing i'm not liking it.

we unfortunately couldn't rest long as we had a tour of the vatican at the 2:30, needed to meet with our group at 2:15, and it was 30 minutes away not including traffic (which there was a lot of) and it was already 1:00-1:15. luckily the hotel lady called us a taxi, but it never showed up. so close to 1:45 mom and i started walking and we found ourselves a taxi.

as you can tell, mom and i had an enormous amount of luck.

we got to the vatican and mom thought she got jipped (again, i know) on the taxi ride price!

we met with our tour guide, who was very nice, and headed inside.

now it's the vatican, so they ask visitors to respect the dress code and what not, so we were covered up from shoulders to feet. even inside, it was hot as hell.

i'm going to be honest on this part, the tour was very very boring. our guide literally discussed every little detail and i could feel every ounce of pain from my feet and sweat beads running down my face.
i honestly would've been okay if we didn't do a tour and went on our own. i was literally dying.

so yeah, i intend to review city wonders so they know exactly how i feel.

we walked four frikin miles on that tour and i wanted to die every step of it lol.

we got to the sistine chapel and it was really beautiful, but it was honestly not as spectacular as as some people make it out to be. (probs going to hell for saying that lol)

michelangelo's initials!

we were allowed to go to the restroom before, so mom and i went but the line was too long so we didn't go in. secret: i only went to the restroom so i could sit down lol.

i do have to be honest, as terrible as the tour was, the vatican was actually cool and did have beautiful art.
on our way to dinner, mom and i somehow managed to get stuck in a parade that marched all throughout the city.

once we managed to get through the parade, mom and i made it to dinner. we ate at the hard rock cafe: roma.

when we got home, we crashed in bed. well, basically. i'm in bed right now writing this and mom's in the shower. tomorrow we have to get up early again...yay.

today was a good day.

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well that's a wrap!

can't believe i've graduated high school, ahhh!!!

i hope y'all have a great weekend!

xoxo,
l.k