Rome & Pisa part II

Hello all! It's been a very busy past few days. We finally arrived home in Barcelona late last night after a full 12 hour day of traveling. Picking up where I left off in my last entry, that was our main touristy day. Saturday night, we went out with Fabio to Trastevere, which is a big nightlife area in Rome. I bought a t-shirt at the pub we went to that says something in Italian on the front and the back...although I don't really know what it says. I liked it anyway. The pub was kind of similar to Ginger Man or Flying Saucer as it had lots of international beers. After that we went and sat on some steps in the nearby piazza and people watched for a couple of hours. Becca bought me a rose from some guy selling them. We slept late on Sunday, and Becca and Erin went to see the Spanish steps. Sam cooked dinner for us that evening, we had pasta carbonara and salad. It was great...there was probably enough pasta to feed 12 people. After dinner, the girls got ready to go out and Sam's lacrosse coach, also named Fabio, came to pick us up. Will and Sam walked to the Trevi fountain and we got to go in a car and meet them there. The fountain was my favorite thing I saw in Rome for sure. It was so beautiful all lit up. While hanging out there we met some other traveling Americans. They said they had been to Barcelona for a couple of days and it was one of their favorite cities in all of Europe. I saved one of their names in my cell phone so we could be Facebook friends. So I have a new friend from California that I met at the Trevi fountain. Pretty cool if you ask me.
On Monday, Will, Becca, Erin and I went to grab lunch at a little cafe near the apartment because Sam had class during the afternoon. We walked around a little while, then I took a nap and they went to see a church. I like churches, but I've seen a lot of them and I was out till 5:30 in the morning the night before, so napping won that day. When I woke up, we all went to get gelato. I had 2 flavors, pesca (peach) and something that starts with an F that I can't remember, but it was just milk/cream flavored. It was soooooo yummy and very cheap -- I wish ice cream in Barcelona was that cheap. After gelato we went to the grocery store and it was my turn to cook dinner for the group. I made shell pasta with sauteed onion, garlic, and zucchini with 2 types of cheese melted in. I don't want to brag, but...you know. We sat and had some wine and digested for a while, then waited for Sam's friend Jessica to come over. When she got there, we all went up to the roof of the building and listened to music and looked at the views of the city. It was really nice and felt good outside. It was a good relaxing final night in Rome. On Tuesday, we bought slow train tickets back to Pisa, which takes 4 hours, then we had to sit at the airport for about 3. At least there was good shopping in the Pisa airport. Becca and I each bought a little bag of tricolor farfalle pasta to give to our host mom (she LOVED that, we had it for lunch & it was so good) and I also bought a wedge of parmigiano because I'm a cheese freak, obviously. Anyway, we slept on the slow train, ate pizza and shopped in the airport, then took the 1-hr bus trip from Girona airport back to Barcelona. At that point, at the bus station, we were maybe 6 or 7 blocks from our apartment, but too exhausted to walk so we got a cab.
Today was our first day of the new session of school. We are in the same classes, Art and Cinema. I already like class so much better than last time. It's so much more interesting to watch Spanish films and talk about Spanish art and architecture than it is to study verb tenses. We have a different professor for each class, and they are both very nice and patient. After school, we came home and ate delicious Italian pasta with mushrooms and ham, and then Becca went to meet some friends at the beach while I went to get my hair cut. After some intense google searching, I found somewhere that spoke English (I want to practice my Spanish as much as possible, but when it comes to my hair it's too important for mistakes!) and headed over. It was really cool inside, decorated with exposed pipes and brick and big ornate gold mirrors on the walls. Marco cut my hair and he was incredibly nice. He did a great job with my layers (because I'm sure you care about that), so although it was a little pricey, it was necessary and I'm happy with the results :)
Tonight I think we're going to L'Ovella Negra pub to meet some new people from school, and hopefully some locals or people from other countries.
I love and miss you all. 1 more month here!

XXOO
Leah