Day 1: SLEEEEEP

So here we are again. Another year, another trip overseas. And another blog. This time, I will be spending a week breezing through the important sites of Italy before attending the International Youth Leadership Conference in Prague. I will also be celebrating my 20th birthday on the 21st, whilst in Prague. So that's exciting.

What is most exciting about this trip is that I am TOTALLY UNSUPERVISED. That's right, no one is keeping an eye on me to make sure I get up on time or get to bed at a reasonable hour. It's actually kind of terrifying. Mostly because if something does happen, my family is a $2500, 24 hour plane trip away. Not to mention that my brother is the only one in the family with a passport other than myself so...thanks Matt for being my plan B. :)

Goodbye Australia!

So: the airport was pretty uneventful. I flew Virgin Australia to Abu Dhabi and was seated next to a lovely woman and her Italian mother. Food was good, entertainment was excellent - I got about zero sleep. So it was hardly surprising I was dropping off in the Departure Lounge at Abu Dhabi. Fortunately, Alitalia had ordinary food, zero entertainment and the two people I was sitting between didn't speak any English. So I slept about 4 hours. Maybe.

So then I arrived in Italy, passed through passport control with a mere hello - didn't even have to say how long I was staying. The trains are pretty standard. Actually, they seem a lot like CityRail trains, with graffiti and things. Unless you're catching the express to Termini (which I did not) - it looked pretty.

The Express Train

Did I mention my hotel is RIDICULOUSLY FANCY LOOKING? It is. It's kind of renaissance-y/ My room is small, but I am a small person and room just makes me want to spread out (which I can't afford to do on such a small time schedule.) It's in a very quiet neighborhood that's empty even at night. I can walk to two metro stations, which is helpful and the public transport is fine. You just have to watch yourself in crowds because there are a lot of people with sticky fingers. I saw a German tourist discover she had been pickpockets. Fortunately, I just hug my bag and so far no one has touched it.

Despite running on only a few hours of sleep, I had to get going to the Colosseum. It was awesome! I managed to grab myself some lunch and some AMAZING gellato (my staple diet for the next week) before joining the tour. It was worth it. I met a really nice South African chap and the skip the line meant we didn't have to stand around forever to see it. Plus, the tour guide had helped excavate parts of the site, so she knew a lot and was super passionate. I didn't learn much I didn't already know, but it was amazing just to see all the ruins and be shown pictures of how they may have looked.

Me at the Colosseum

After the tour, I managed to meet up with a couple of people I met at the Asian Science Camp in Israel 2012 (See my blog). It was great to catch up with Rotem and Rohan, haven't seen them in two years. It was a complete accident that we were both in Rome at the same time, but totally awesome. They were in town to hang with one of their Italian friends, who is super fun too.

Me and Rotem  being crazy

As it is very late - I will write the next few days tomorrow. Sorry for the delay. I will also put some more photos up too. I need sleep though - busy day tomorrow :D