Day 2 of Rome 3/11/23

We started our last day in Rome at around 8a.m., departing our hotel energized with
cappuccinos and stuffed with Nutella croissants. When we arrived at Vatican City, we had to
split the group up into two which meant the freshmen, plus Claire, Cyanne, and Allie got put with
Dave, and the rest of us cool kids got to stick together.
We were provided Airpod "dupes" by our tour guides so that we could hear them well at
any point in the tour. Naturally, we used this as an opportunity to pretend we were DJing. The
next 3 hours were spent exploring Vatican City, more specifically the Sistine Chapel, The
Gallery of Tapestries, and St. Peter's Basilica. Aesthetic photos came easily to us with the help
of the stunning architecture and beautiful paintings and statues. One of my favorites is Julia
hitting the griddy in St. Peter's Basilica. As if the tour wasn't interesting enough, the pigeons of
Vatican City decided to spice things up by leaving some droppings on Cyanne and Claire. This
complemented Cyanne's new white jacket super well! After leaving our mark on all of these
amazing places, Giancarlo led us to a gift shop located in Vatican City. Some girls purchased
rosaries, necklaces, holy water, and Christmas ornaments here.
By 12:30 p.m., Giancarlo set us free to explore the city of Rome on our own until we had
to return back for dinner later. Most of us spent this time filling up on pasta at one of the many
cute street-side Italian restaurants. This was followed by immediately scouting out the closest
gelato place (Bri and I agreed that cheesecake is the best flavor). With a lot of time to spare, we
did what most girls in Rome would do- SHOPPING!!!!! Without hesitation, we made our way into
one of the many leather stores in Rome. Unnecessary amounts of purses and wallets were
bought, but they were easily justified with the words "when in Rome"- a saying that will haunt me
once I work up the courage to check my bank account.
At around 6 p.m., we made our way back to our meeting place to gather as a group
before heading to dinner. Giancarlo guided us to a local restaurant called Le Terme del
Colosseo. It didn't look like much from the outside until we walked through the doors and down
the steps to a restaurant that looked quite similar to the colosseum. The atmosphere continued
to escalate once we heard two men begin to sing while we enjoyed our Carbonara pasta dishes.
A few girls (Julia in particular) took it upon themselves to join in and sing along, especially when
"That's Amore" was performed. I'm pretty sure the men started singing a bit louder when we
chimed in, can't think of any reason why they'd do that????
For the finale of our "farewell dinner," Giancarlo surprised us with a special dessert; a
huge chocolate cake with a Georgetown "G" printed on top. It was the perfect dinner to end our
amazing Italy trip! From here, we headed back to the hotel so we could gear up for tomorrow's
travel endeavors.
 
Last day 3/12/23

We began our last day cherishing the final breakfast at our hotel. The endless amount of
pastries, cappuccinos, fresh bread, and fruit will be a tough one for Leo's to beat. At 8:30 a.m.
sharp, it was sadly time to depart the hotel.
When we arrived at the airport, we were happy to drop off our luggage. I held my breath
as they put it on the scale, well aware I had bought 10 pounds worth of souvenirs (no shame).
Luckily it weighed in at a perfect 22.6 kg (this is 50 lbs. for those less cultured). Air conditioning
didn't seem to be a priority in the airports we experienced on this trip, which led to a larger
amount of pantaloon appearances within the team than I would have liked. However, if I had to
choose, I'd say Alex Bair pulled the look off best.
Upon our clearance through security, we were greeted by the Rome Fiumicino airport
with any and every designer store you could think of. I popped in a few but soon realized that
my budget could no longer fit in a 700-euro pair of sneakers. At our gate, we used this as a time
to wipe the dust off of our laptops and take a glance at the great lessons and assignments our
professors had waiting for us back at Georgetown! The motivation wasn't quite there YET, so
this lasted only a few minutes. By this point, it was just about time for our final cappuccino. To
our surprise, we had our first encounter with "freddo cappuccino," meaning ICED
CAPPUCCINOS! What a dream.
Our flight took off at about 1:30 p.m., which would land us at JFK at 5:30 p.m. EST for our
connecting flight into Dulles. It was a 9-hour flight, easily the longest flight I've ever been on and
I was lucky enough to be stuck between two random people. We came to the conclusion that it'd
be in our best interest to stay awake on this flight, in order to lessen the effects of jet lag.
Staying awake was challenging at times, but re-watching The Office did the trick.
Finally, we landed in New York, and made it through passport control and security once
again… phew! Despite our tiredness, we managed to lug our backpacks and duffels 1 mile to
our gate through the steamy JFK airport, pantaloons and all. By the time we got there, it felt like
I had gotten a quick lift in, but this is probably just a result of retirement. Shockingly, the airplane
food didn't quite hit the spot, especially now that we could compare it to all of the authentic
Italian meals we had experienced. Stumbling across a Mexican restaurant, we scoped out the
menu, only to see that a chicken quesadilla would cost us $17. What a steal! We hadn't even
been back in America for an hour and we were already reminiscing over our 12-euro pasta
dishes.
We rushed back to the gate since we ONLY had 4 hours to kill. Naturally, this called for
some Wavelength. However, this only lasted a couple of games due to the stupidity we felt after
each round… but an overall great game, we definitely recommend!! Somehow the coaching
staff, plus Erin Martin and Sofie Fox, got upgraded to first class, and at 11:30 p.m. it was time to
board our long-awaited flight back to DC!
 
I finally gave in and passed out on the hour-long flight home. At this point, we had been
traveling for 20 hours and morale was hitting a trip-record low (understandably). We landed in
Dulles at 12:45 a.m., meaning we had all been up for a full day - I can officially check this one off
the bucket list!! Thankfully all of our luggage had made it too, and it was time to board the DC
Trails bus back to campus. The ride back felt like it lasted 2 seconds thanks to one of the best
naps I have ever taken. At last, we were back to our roots for a final arrival time of 2 a.m.… what
a day. Despite the long travel day, I felt grateful to make it home, and even more grateful for the
amazing trip we had. This will definitely go down as one of my many favorite memories with
Georgetown Women's Soccer. Until next time, Italy!!!!