Roma!

We made it! Early this morning we finished packing up all our stuff - including our toilet paper and condiments, because we weren't leaving those behind! - and then we caught a taxi to the station where we boarded a train for Roma! 

The ride was relatively quick - just an hour - and though the train was really fast, the scenery we passed was movie-perfect...small Tuscan villages tucked away amidst patchwork vineyards and crops...it was gorgeous.

But finally the train began to slow and suddenly we were hurrying through the train station and jumping into taxis headed towards our new apartments! Ours is on Via Mameli which is in a beautiful little part of the city - tons of flowerboxes in the windows and cobblestone streets with corks stuck between the cracks. And everything is so much wider in Rome as opposed to Florence. The streets aren't as narrow and there's so much green! I can't wait to explore more of the city. But from what we saw on our walking tour, it looks beautiful and old and like everything I've ever imagined! Don't get me wrong, I still am in love with Florence, but this new home is stealing it's way into my heart as well...

Our apartments were super nice as well. It's still Sabrina and me together and so far we're loving our new place! It's got two bedrooms - well one and an overhead loft - instead of one large one, it has a nice kitchen (with an oven!), a cute little bathroom with a sink from IKEA and a bidet!, and then we even have a nice living room complete with a speed bag for all our boxing needs!!

Our 'lofty' bedrooms!

the top for me!

the bottom for my roomie!

our kitchen - with complimentary modern art tile-work!

so our washer isn't in our kitchen anymore - it's in our bathroom! yay for peeing and washing clothes all at the same time!

bidet!

IKEA sink...so chic.

...sitting room

and see, they even knew to include this for our boxing workouts.

Anyways, after we all got settled into the apartment we all met up for that walking tour and saw where our school was, how to take the tram, how to read bus schedules, etc. But later on, we all got together for a group dinner to celebrate our arrival and man was it delicious! The restaurant was so lovely with heavy white linens and glistening glasses and an extremely attractive waiter with a physique deliciously similar to the recently-visited David........oh, and the food was good too. :)

We had three courses - the first was a pasta - penne in red sauce accompanied by the best garlic bread I've had in a really long time, the second course was a dish of thin slices of meat in a savory broth with arugula, and then the meal was finally finished off by a cup of creamy custard topped with pastry and chocolate syrup. It was sooooooo good!!

Afterwards, we had some of the girls come over check out our apartment (they were totally jealous!), and now we are just about to head off to bed - ready for tomorrow where we will finally see the Colosseum and the Roman Forum!!! I can't wait!!!!!