Ciao! I suppose to today is my final “real” blog post. There’s really no point in writing one for tomorrow as there’s only four more hours until we leave, and much of that time will be spent sleeping. I’ll do a recap blog later in the week, though.
For our last full day in Rome (and the first legitimate day of summer without school), we decided to hit up the beach. We started walking toward the bus to take to the train when we realized we hadn’t eaten breakfast. Pizza Boom, the trusty shop down the street was open, and low and behold, sold pastries! I’m much more enthusiastic about this than I should be. I had a Nutella-filled sugar doughnut for .50 euro. Are you kidding me?! I wish I would have known about the deliciousness and cheapness of these pastries prior to my last day in Rome, but what’s done is done. We also picked up a porchetta sandwich to eat at the beach.
The train we were supposed to take to the beach was next to the Roman pyramid. Since I first heard Rome had a pyramid, I’ve been on the quest to find it. When the time came to see it, I was disappointed. It looked like a two-story cinderblock pyramid with some ancient words chiseled into the side of it. Some things just should have been left to the Egyptians.
Back to the beach: on the bus, we saw some people dressed in beach gear, so we stalked them all the way to the station. We didn’t really know where the station was or which train was ours, so our at-a-safe-distance creeping made our trip much more convenient. We also looked to see which stop they got off at, since three stops were supposed to be near water. The bikini-clad, cooler-carrying locals led us to our destination.
We passed a sign for a restaurant called The Med, so I’m assuming we were at the Mediterranean Sea. It was gorgeous. I’ll admit that it wasn’t the most beautiful beach I’ve been to, but given the hot train ride and the sweat rolling down our foreheads, it was definitely the most refreshing beach I’ve been to in a long time. The water was ice cold, but became the perfect temperature after floating around for a few minutes.
When we weren’t in the water, we were sitting on the grainy sand, so I read a book. It’s a self-helpish style book about persuading people. I know it sounds boring, but the writing style was so unique that I enjoyed what I’ve read thus far. To give examples about debating, the author talked about the Roman Forum. I found it incredibly cool that I now know the history of such things and have been to those monuments. I was reading a book about Rome while in Rome. It’s nerdy, I know.
Eventually we needed to pack up and get back to our apartments to get ready for our farewell dinner. Although I applied a sufficient amount of sunscreen, my entire body is crispy. I’m not talking about just a little color; I’m talking about “wow, do you need Tylenol to help ease the pain” crispy. I may look like a tomato, but I don’t feel it. Honest. In a few days I’ll be tan.
Our farewell dinner was quite pleasant—and the only meal I entirely enjoyed at Gusto Lab. We ate zucchini, pesto pasta with pine nuts, beef and potatoes (it was glorious), and this pistachio half-gelato half-cake dessert. Mmm, good. We then had to say our goodbyes and get back to the apartments to pack for our 6:30 a.m. meeting tomorrow.
My evening and early morning was consumed with packing and hanging out with everyone for the last time in Rome. As I’m writing this, I’m feeling a little bittersweet. I’m actually quite upset that I’m missing the plane ride home, as I won’t really get to say goodbye to everyone at the airport. On the happy side, I’ll be staying in Rome for a few more days with my family, which is always a fun time.
Goodnight from Rome!
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