... do as the BROmans do!

So we left off with the antics of Tuesday night. How appropriate that we would have to get up early again Wednesday morning and take 2 metros and a train to the ancient port city, Ostia. Roman public transportation is NOTHING like Copenhagen, that's for sure. It reminded me more of the U in Munich that we took to Oktoberfest, only this was dirtier... and it wasn't crowded for any special occasion. Just a normal day in the life. I clung onto my purse and my classmates for dear life. One of my friends (not on this trip) got pickpocketed on the Italian metro, so we had to watch out.

We loved Ostia!! I mean, I'm sure it helped that we had a gorgeous sunny day, and the whole place was surrounded by fields of wild daisies (no joke). So we frolicked around, did a few more sketches, listened to several Broman lectures, ate lunch, and were on our way. I seriously could have stayed there all day, laying out in the sun with all the ruins. Glorious.

Ostia Antica

Then, we braved the public transportation again and went back to the Capitol and its museum for a little while. Everyone was pretty tired, so Bro set us free a little early. Except for Becky and me, that is. For being his class reps and partners in crime, Bro had planned to treat us to drinks and talk about how the trip was going. Knowing us, it should come as no surprise that we asked if we could have gelato instead haha .. and he got it! Awww. I really struggle through these class rep meetings because I can't take the man seriously... so Becky did a reasonably good job of trying to break the awkward silence by asking him lots of questions.

Thursday was our last full day in Rome (SO SAD!) but the weather was perfect again. We did another "Group Walk and tour led by Thyge," (as it says in our itinerary) including the Pyramid of Sestius, the Caracalla baths, the Circus Maximus, and Forum Boarium. We stuck our hands in the mouth of this Lion that's supposed to bite your hand off if you're a liar? ... but as far as I know everyone still has both of their hands.

The moment of truth....

We split off again for lunch, and our little posse found another great pasta place (guess it's not that hard to do). We had the majority of the day on our own, which was soo nice. Of course we got gelato, did some shopping, had a really unnecessary photo shoot with a life-size Pinocchio... you know, all the normal stuff. We took another power nap, and Becky and I prepared our class rep toast to be given at the last supper in Rome. It rhymed.

Dinner, once again, did not disappoint. But the restaurant was kind of far from Hotel Doggie, so we made a pit stop along the way. It was Nushelle's birthday, so Bro thought we should have a surprise pit stop to a bar for snacks and plastic cups of champagne (why we love him!!). So, being the STELLAR class rep that I am (modest, too) I spotted a kind of homeless-looking street musician, and asked Bro if I could give him 5 euro to sing "Happy Birthday" to Nushelle. He said sure, why not. So I did.... and I brought the guy over to our table, but he kind of ended up serenading me instead. Awkwardddd. And then he burst out into "O Happy Day," and was joined by a random drunk man on the street. We were all cracking up... what a moment.




Okay, so then DINNER was equally hilarious. Sara, Becky, Stephanie, Courtney, and I fought our way to the front of the pack on our walk so that we could sit with Bro at dinner. So worth it. We got to hear the story about how he met his wife, etc. Whenever there was an awkward pause, Becky did her best to fill it.... but this time she kind of failed. "If you were an animal, what kind of animal would you be??" Eventually Bro called her out and said "Shtop ashking awkward questions." Our love for him continued to grow.

So we gave our toast, Bro gave a toast, we all ate and drank and ate and drank for what was probably hours. When we left, we could tell he was a little tipsy, and we convinced him to come out to a bar with all of us. It was so much fun, and I'm not sure how it happened that Becky and I were the ONLY ones who ended up paying for our drinks (the rest were magically free somehow... another reason why I'm broke) but we're considering it to be an investment to our karma. The night went on, and some of us ended up migrating to a club called "Anime," which no, doesn't sound promising, but it was pretty fun. To avoid getting lost again, I made sure to latch onto my classmates.... like physically latched. I usually have a pretty good sense of direction, but Rome confused me soooo badly. I was thankful to be with so many other people.


Finally, Friday morning we said our goodbyes to Rome, and left for the airport. Everyone was exhausted, and Bro took it upon himself to inform people that they had "slits for eyes." Whatta guy. So, clearly looking our best, we began the long haul back to Copenhagen. The end of the journey for most people... but Courtney, Becky, and I weren't done yet! Next stop: BERLIN.