Ciao! I am finally getting this Rome post up that I literally made weeks ago! The whole photo dilemma really distracted me from ever getting to post this. Since I wrote this blog, I have actually re-visited Rome with my family and have even more recommendations!! But weirdly, I don't want to include them here... I think I'm going to do another Rome post and try to get caught up on all of our trips in order! No promises, but I would truly love to have recaps on the blog from all of the trips. Fingers crossed that Lugano, Paris, London, Venice, Como, and more travel content will be coming your way soon!!
This may be confusing, but I am not going to change what I had originally written when I wrote this post. Obviously, we've been more places AND Andrew and my fam have already visited! I just want to keep my original thoughts from the end of February/beginning of March as they were! :)
From this point out, this is what I typed when I originally wrote this post:
People warned me about "culture shock" and how it hits especially three weeks in. I am happy (and relieved) to say that I never experienced much culture shock. Even though just in the US, I am usually quite the traveler. I also like to think that I prepared myself well prior to arrival here. We had over a month-long winter break at home before leaving in January, so I had plenty of time to mentally and physically prepare for the monumental change!
I arrived here (while not without a hectic travel story) on January 16th! Since then, we've visited Bologna, Verona, Rome, Lugano (Switzerland), Paris, and London!! We've already seen so much all while beginning classes here in Milan. Classes have been going very well and are pretty easy for the most part. Our program understands that school is not the main priority while you study abroad, so they teach/assign accordingly.
I have just been spending my time trying to get into some sort of routine during the short weekdays that I'm in Milan before every crazy weekend trip. We stayed in Milan this past weekend for Fashion Week, where we were able to catch a glimpse of a few major celebs outside of shows (Kim K included!!!). I knew that the blog wasn't going to be a main priority of mine while being here, but I definitely wanted to get back into it as much as possible once I felt settled. Now that I have a few weeks here in Milan awaiting visitors, I figured it's the perfect time to pop back on here!
I wanted to do some recaps of the trips we've been on so far. I thought this would be helpful for others studying abroad and also a way for me to keep everything documented. I've been writing in a journal, but I want to have the memories on here for all of my loyal fans to have as well!! :) I'm going to be starting off today with a "24 Hours in Rome" recap and travel itinerary! I'm skipping our day trips to Bologna and Verona because those were 1 day school trips that I don't have a ton to really say about. We did stay overnight in Rome and it was our first weekend trip alone. Brenna and I had the best time even though we faced many obstacles (including rain, creepy men at the train station, and a protest) and it was definitely the best way to begin our travels.
I'm so excited to begin my abroad travel series on here, so let's get started with the wonderful and beautiful, Roma!
GETTING THERE
We took the earliest train out to Rome that we could find. We wanted to have the most time possible there because we only had two days/one night to do all the things. We had tickets for the 5:10am train (the first train out of the Milano Centrale train station) to arrive in Rome by 9:00am! We learned the hard way that the train station doesn't even OPEN until 30 minutes before the first train and we had gotten there extra early because it was the first train we were taking alone. We had to stand outside in our tights and leather skirts for wayyy too long with wayyy too many creeps before security even opened the front gates.
We finally got in and had to wait 10 more minutes inside to get our train terminal. Valuable lesson learned: do not treat the train station like the airport, you literally only need 10 minutes (not 50).
The train was very boujee and peaceful. We had some coffee and train croissants (lol) and eventually did our makeup for our arrival in Rome!
We arrived to some pretty crappy and cold weather in Rome, which we were definitely not properly prepared for. I had done my research on the weather the entire week prior and there had been no chance of rain and it was expected sun and warmish weather. Of course we arrived to rain which made it feel freezing. We froze all day in our tights and skirts.
HOTEL
We booked a very nice twin bed hotel room at the Cosmopolita Hotel Roma by Hilton and it was very luxurious. It's actually been the only hotel so far that we were able to get separate twin beds! Since we were only staying one night, we didn't mind paying a little extra for the separate beds and the great location. The hotel was a short walk from the Colosseum and Trevi Fountain.
The hotel also had some great spots for mirror selfies... :
BRUNCH
After checking into our hotel, we headed towards the Colosseum under our (one, I forgot mine) umbrella. We stopped at a café called Caffé Roma, which overlooks the Colosseum. While attempting to wait out the rain, we got mimosas and croissants. This café was a super convenient spot although not super pretty during the rainstorm. But during warmer months, they have outside seating which would be absolutely incredible with the Colosseum as your brunch view.
I unfortunately took zero photos there because we were a little frazzled after being rained on. So enjoy some gloomy pics of Rome on the walk to the café!
COLOSSEUM
We ended up going back to the hotel while waiting out the rain after realizing it wasn't going to stop for another two hours. After we relaxed and waited a little, we walked back towards the Colosseum to take some pics! Again, because of the weather the lighting in our photos wasn't exactly what we were expecting, but we still got some cute photos and got to admire the massive site. The Colosseum is truly breathtaking and truly HUGE.
Since we were only in Rome for a day, we didn't want to waste time going inside. We had toured the Verona Arena while on that trip, which was basically a smaller version of the Colosseum. Looking back, I'm so glad we didn't book tickets to go inside because our day ended up looking a lot differently than we had originally planned. Because we lost time waiting out the rain, it wasn't a main priority to spend time taking a tour of the inside.
TREVI FOUNTAIN
After a long and treacherous journey thanks to Maps taking us the wrong way, we eventually made our way to Trevi Fountain. Trevi was absolutely spectacular. We knew we wanted to come back the next morning quickly for better photos without the crowd, but since it was nearby we wanted to check it out. We took a few photos but saved the rest for the next morning when better weather was expected!!
GELATO STOP
Brenna had been dying for gelato, and I finally gave in even though we were both freezing our butts off. We stopped at Mamo' Gelaterie right next to the Pantheon and it was beyond delicious. I got the vegan Limone falvored gelato and it was truly heavenly and worth the pain of my freezing cold hands.
PANTHEON & LUNCH STOP
We stopped at the Pantheon for literally 5 seconds because by this point we were cold and exhausted. We admired it while we ate our gelato, expecting to get a burst of energy and continue until we had to head back to the hotel for dinner.
Of course, that didn't last long. We walked about 20 feet from the Pantheon before collectively deciding that we needed to eat and take a break from walking. I knew we were going to be walking a lot, but my heeled booties on the ancient Roman cobblestone was not an ideal combo.
I can't remember where exactly we stopped, but it wasn't anywhere too special anyways. I got a classic pomodoro pasta that was very good but not very authentic. Brenna got a pizza and we split a salad. It was definitely necessary to fuel up and take a rest. After eating we walked back to the hotel to chill before getting ready for dinner.
DINNER
Because we planned Rome a little last minute, we couldn't find any places to take reservations for dinner. We ubered and ended up getting a table at Mimì e Cocò Trast across the bridge. We had great drinks and appetizers. I ordered a margarita and some sort of fruity spritz and we shared their delicious bread and oil. For my main, I cheated and ordered the spinach ravioli! It was delicious but my vegan stomach definitely regretted it later! We loved this little hole in the wall restaurant/bar spot and I'm so happy we found it.
After dinner we accidentally found ourselves in the middle of some protest happening. There were a ton of police vans and police wearing helmets and carrying shields. We were so confused and a little scared to have all of a sudden found ourselves in such a strange situation. The bridges were closed for cars so we had to walk across a bridge around the extremist group to get to the other side to Uber back. 16,000+ steps later, we finally returned safe and sound to our hotel and we were READY for bed.
TREVI FOUNTAIN ROUND 2
We woke up nice and early to make the most of the few sunny hours we had in the morning before our 12:50 train ride. So technically we had a little over one day in Rome, but we really didn't do much until 2pm the first day because of the rain!
In order to get the best photos, we had to beat the tourists to Trevi Fountain. We trudged over to the fountain at 7:30am after sunrise. We took super cute photos and were able to enjoy it much more without the swarms of tourists. This is also when we threw the coins over our shoulders into the fountain, which apparently ensures your return to Rome one day. :)
BRUNCH
After spending time at Trevi Fountain and taking an absurd amount of photos, we Ubered to a yummy brunch spot called Coromandel. They had an entire vegan section to their menu which I greatly appreciated because breakfast is sometimes tricky. I still managed to choose incorrectly and order the scrambled tofu which ended up being very disgusting. Thankfully it came with a pancake and avocado, so I ate the pancake and ordered plain toast for the avocado slices to salvage the meal. We also were able to order mimosas!
COLOSSEUM PART 2
After much consideration, we decided that we did have time to run back to the Colosseum to attempt better photos. It was literally drizzling in most of our photos the day before. I'm so glad we did this because seeing it in the sunshine truly did make such a difference! It was even more stunning than the day before and we got a few more cute photos in our day 2 outfits!
BYE ROME!!!
After this we headed back to the hotel to check out and did some cute shopping along the way. I bought this children's "Ciao Bella" purse that I definitely will be saving for my daughter(s)! We headed to the train station and boarded our 12:50 train and got back to Milan by 4:00! It was such a great time and an easy day of traveling.
Since it was our first trip we definitely Ubered more than we would now that we are experienced travelers! Again, the rain didn't really aid us with that. We have learned a lot already since booking Rome stuff and learned how important it is to book everything WELL in advance before the prices skyrocket!!
OUTFIT DETAILS
This outfit is such a classic and timeless look that's super easy to recreate. Layer a black blazer or jacket with a black skirt or dress and tights and you've got it. This also works as a transitional outfit if you add tights or layer up. You could also totally add some color, I just always find myself wearing all black these days, lol!
I'm obsessed with this outfit!! I wore my favorite Aritzia sweater dress with some tights, my fav boots, this adorable fur bucket hat, and borrowed this jacket from Brenna. This is another very simple look to recreate and is a slightly different version of my first outfit. What can I say, I had to pack light!!
And that's a wrap on my 24 hours in Rome! We had the best time and it was certainly a memorable trip. I get to head back when my family visits this month and I can't wait to see everything again. It's truly insane to see all of the ruins and statues that have been along for thousands of years!
Next up I am going to recap Lugano, Paris, and London! Like I mentioned, I am sticking around Milan for the next few weeks so I have some time to finally get back on tack. I am so excited to share more and I hoped you all loved the Rome recap!! <3
Talk soon!!
Bella
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