Roma

We were lucky enough to get to spend five whole days and nights in Rome. Of all the "big" cities in Europe I've visited to date, I think Rome is my favorite. It's hard to put a finger on exactly why this is-- perhaps it's because it holds some of the most ancient monuments in all of western culture, or maybe it's the fact that you can't walk 2 blocks in any direction without stumbling across a beautiful building or statue, or maybe it's just that I LOVE Italian food. Whatever it is, Rome has this vibe, this feeling about it, that's different from other European cities.

When we planned our week in Rome, we figured we'd be catching the "off season", it being the end of October. We were shocked to find the city absolutely packed with tourists. It was suddenly clear to us why we had had such a difficult time trying to find a Couchsurfing host, and why we had ended up having to book a hostel. Despite the never-ending tourist season in Rome (we learned from locals that there is no "off season") the people of Rome are surprisingly patient, understanding, and welcoming towards outsiders.

Although we were disappointed to have to spend money on so many nights of lodging, we had a good time and met a lot of great people at the hostel we stayed at. Our first night there, we played the apparently world-renowned drinking game "King's Cup" (a.k.a. "Circle of Death", "Kings", or "Ring of Fire")  with a group of Polish students who, to our complete surprise, knew all the rules and played the game exactly as we have always known it in the States. We also made some other friends at the hostel, and spent the following day exploring the city with 3 lovely ladies from Canada who were studying in Lyon, France, and José Pablo and Anna, who were both from Mexico City.

For the remainder of our stay, we thoroughly enjoyed the company of our new friends, as well as the other guests and staff at the hostel. We even met a guy from Chile who lived and worked for 6 months in the tiny town of Granby, Colorado- which also happens to be where I went to high school. Then there was Becca and Caitlin from New York, who arrived towards the end of our stay... as it turned out, they're both studying in Florence, which happened to be where we were headed next. And you'll never guess who we ran into walking down the street in Florence our first morning here! Becca! To top it all off, their apartment is so ridiculously close to ours that we could literally string up a soup-can-phone between our windows if we wanted to. I'm convinced this world is definitely round, full of wonderful people, and getting smaller by the day.

~Jenna