Roma, Italy

So this weekends adventure was Rome, Italy! And by far this trip has been my favorite so far. It is much more a tourist attraction then Frankfurt and Oslo and I think my future travels will be to the more tourist attraction sites (although still cool to check out the smaller places too).

I spent this weekends trip with my friend Melissa (we both went to Nipissing in concurrent ed! ) whom I  also went to Frankfurt with. I met her in Victoria station as she is teaching in Nottingham and then headed to Gatwick airport! Our flight was only 2 hours and then a 45 min bus ride that basically brought us right to our hostel!

Our hostel was amazing! When we arrived the man at the front desk told us that we arrived too late and our reservation was canceled. We both got upset saying that we said we wouldn't check in until this time, he calmly started to process our room for us in the meantime. We still aren't sure if he was joking with us or what. But we still got a room for the weekend, he brought us to our room where we were to share with two other people. He says don't tell anyone but I got you a private room with an ensuite but you are paying for the 4 mix dorm room. Again I am not sure if he was being nice to us or if they only had these rooms left. But in any case we lucked out with our room for the weekend and didn't have to share with any girls like beluga (crazy girls in our Norway dorm room that tried to burn our room down!)

Melissa and I were very excited to be in Rome and decided to even check out something that night even though it was late! We checked out the piazza della repubblica which was basically a roundabout with a beautiful fountain in the middle of it! My camera sucks with night pictures so we decided to call it a night and wake up early to cover as much of the city as possible on saturday!

The Piazza (taken the next day!)

Well we didn't wake up as early as we thought we would but still managed to leave at a decent time. We head directly to the Colosseum where we are approached by a Canadian girl to buy tickets. You could buy a ticket to go into the Colosseum for 8 euro (wait in a massive line to get in), pay for the Colosseum & the surrounding ruins for 12 euro or pay 20 euro for both and then get a guided tour of both AND skip the massive lines! We opt for this one and it was really cool to hear the history of the Colosseum and see it at the same time too!

Me & the Colosseum!!

Melissa and I with our gladiator!

After the Colosseum we head towards the pantheon to first grab some lunch and then to check out a few more sites. Rome is such a beautiful city and there are SO many beautiful buildings and fountains around that it was great to just wander around the city for the day. Major sites that we saw included the Piazza Navona, Trevi fountain and the Quirinale Palace (where we randomly saw the changing of the guard ceremony). It was a lot of walking that we did but we saw a lot of the major sites, we even got a bit of shopping done too! There are tons of street vendors all over Italy and if you are good with your bartering skills you can get some tourist gifts for pretty cheap here!

Pantheon

Melissa & I in front of Trevi Fountain

After heading back to the hostel for a bit we walk down the street to a local restaurant that our hostel recommended for pasta dinner (we even got a discount because of our hostel!) Melissa and I attempted at reading the menu but the first half has English translations but it seems to be more breakfast things and when it gets into the pasta dishes it is all in Italian (sorry not fluent in that language yet!) We opted for the 15 euro dinner which included a appetizer, main and dessert. Our waitor was very cute and although not the best with his English still tried to help us with the few choices there was with this option. When we weren't sure exactly what it was we just said surprise us! For our appetizer we had a bread/mini pizza thing and a olive oil/mushroom "salad" which was delicious together! Melissa and I had soo much food from our appetizer that when our main pasta dish came we were pretty much full! But we were in Italy so we had to have this homemade pasta. It was delicious...a little too much cheese for me, but was still sooo good. After eating what we could of the pasta we then had to shove in our dessert which ended up being a very rich and chocolatey dessert. This I wasn't the biggest fan of but still forced myself to eat it (hey if I am paying for it, I better not waste it!)

Our dessert

On Sunday our last day in Rome we decided to search for the Spanish steps (we tried yesterday but apparently just pissed them!) They are really gorgeous huge steps! We had a few hours before we had to catch our bus near our hostel so we decided to check out the Trevi fountain again as well as wander around the tourist shops. We headed back to our hostel to grab some lunch before catching our bus, but Melissa quickly realizes that we do not have time for lunch but have to RUN to our bus as we had 7 minutes to grab our bags and get on the bus. The bus is packed and there is only standing room left, the next bus isn't for another hour so we suck it up and stand for 45 minutes (This surprisingly did not seem that long!) We board the plane no problem and are back in London within a few hours! It was an awesome trip and I can't wait to see other parts of Italy!!

The Spanish Steps!!

Some people have asked me where my next trip is, I think I will hold off on weekend getaways until after Christmas as my bank account is pretty dry right now since I have gone away for the last three weeks. Before I left for the weekend I called my agency and told them I was unavailable to work on Friday again and my consultant joked that she was paying me too much if I could go away every weekend! I wish I could afford to go away every weekend, but I think I will take a break for a bit, save up some cash and then do a few more after Christmas! I might do a day trip to see the stonehedge, oxford etc. But the next plane I board will be to Canada as I am heading home in a month on Dec 17 until Jan 7! I hope everyone is enjoying my updates as much as I am enjoying the traveling and sharing with you. I like to see comments etc so if you are reading my blog let me know! Miss everyone and can't wait to see a lot of you at home during Christmas!!

Here is the link to see all of my Rome pictures!! ------> Click me!

British Terminology

So before I started this blog, I decided I would write an email update to a few friends and family. A few people replied and said that I am already doing well in England as I am starting to sound like them.

 But it is not that I am starting to sound like the British but it is that I use their terminology in order to mask any confusion.

One day I was in a school and asked a fellow teacher where the bathroom is, and she kind of looked at me funny and continued to say oh you mean like the toilet? I am so used to referring to it as a bathroom (but know that people call it other things) that I forgot to use the British lingo of toilet or loo.  Here are a few other words that I picked up so far

Canadian - British: 

Roommate- Flatmate

Apartment- Flat 

Cell phone- Mobile

Line- Queue

Mail- Post

Subway- Tube

Bathroom - Toilet/loo

Garbage- Rubbish

Sweater- Jumper

Pants - Trousers

Rubber Boots- Wellies 

Underwear- Knickers

Chips - Crisps

French Fries- Chips 

Smart - Clever

Sketchy- Dodgy 

Well that is all that I can think of at the moment, there are tons more! But I can't think of them all right now!

Oslo, Norway!

So this past weekend I went to Oslo, Norway with my friend Dash (whom I met in the hostel I stayed at when I first got here) and my flatmate Anne. Dash and I left Friday around lunch and it only took around an hour to get to Gatwick airport which is much better than the two hours that it took to get to Stansted airport when I went to Frankfurt. Again we flew with ryanair because our flights cost only 20 pounds (35 dollars?) round trip (our bus/train fairs probably cost more than our flight!), which means that we don't fly directly into the city.

We took an hour bus ride into the city. We met a few American's on the bus whom were staying at the same hostel, so we found our way to the hostel together. Once at the hostel we decided to hunt down some food. We quickly realized that what we were told about Oslo was true that it is an expensive place! After trying to get some "cheap food", we decide we want to buy a drink from the store. But they stop selling alcohol by 8pm and on Saturday's by 6pm. So we venture to a bar to get a drink which ends up costing us around 5 pounds (8 dollars).

After our drink we head back to the hostel to try and check a few emails before bed. We are in the common area and a fire alarm goes off. Everyone has to go outside in the freezing cold (we do not have our coats so we are extra cold). Dash and I joked around saying that watch our room be the one on fire and we have nothing left. After having the fire fighters check the building we are allowed into the warmth again! We decide that we should go chill in our room for a bit (bad idea!) we get in our room and there are some firefighters in the room along with 4 girls that are sharing the room with us. One of the fire fighters tells Dash and I that if it happens again we will get fined 4000 KR (about 400 pounds). But we had nothing to do with this "fire", once they all leave we talk to the girls in our room. Apparently these girls decided to do some cooking (there are burners in our room, instead of having a separate kitchen- weird I know!) but there was no pots (supposed to rent them from the front desk), so they cooked some bacon directly on the burner. This resulted in a lot of smoke thus having the fire alarm going off! These girls are clearly VERY smart (later I found out that they are nannies...I don't know if I would trust them with my kids!)


On Saturday morning we decide to wake up nice and early in order to get a full day in! We walked the streets in search of breakfast, but realize that nothing is open! Things do not begin to open until 10AM! Dash and I saw the beautiful Oslo Cathedral (but do not go inside it!) We head our way towards the Parliament buildings where we get a free 45 min tour (if it is free it is for me!). This tour was very interesting to learn a bit about the history of Norway. After the Parliament buildings we decide city hall would be best, but with a bit of bad navigation thanks to me we end up checking out a old castle and fortress. It was really cool but unfortunately the castle was closed for a private function. We then head to city hall and then the royal palace as there is a changing of the guard at 1:30. We quickly verify with one of the guards that they are in fact doing it today and yes it is at 1:30. We walk around a bit and come back to the main entrance where we figure the ceremony will take place, its 1:30 but nothing is happening. The guards march here and there but no big ceremony. We are confused but tell each other to just wait! Ten minutes later still nothing! So we are hungry so we go and get some food. Later we realize we screwed up the time difference and we were an hour early for the ceremony and ended up missing it completely! The last thing we check out is the Opera house, this building is pretty cool as you can climb on the roof, although you have to use at your own risk! We found out that it was very slippery from the frost on the ground and yes you should be careful! But it was really beautiful and there was some cool views of the fjord. We were tired so decided to grab some drinks for the night (before we can't buy them anymore before 6) and go back to the hostel and wait until Anne arrives where we will all go out for dinner with her friend Christian.

As soon as we arrive to our hostel for the night, a fire alarm goes off, we don't have to go outside for this one (false alarm) and then in the middle of the night the same thing happens...another fire alarm! 3 fire alarms in one weekend, you think this hostel has issues! Apparently people were pulling the fire alarm as a prank, and had been done about a handful of times that day. Man people are immature!

Once she arrives the 4 of us go out for dinner at one of Christian's friends newly opened restaurant. Wow was this place amazing! We all decide that this was our best meal in Europe so far! We had lamb shank with veggies and mashed potatoes. We got some dessert of crepes with specialty berries! Such an amazing dinner! I guess the locals really do know best.

On our last day in Oslo, we met up with Anne's friend Christian again where he took us to the famous ski jumping area. There are a few beautiful views of the fjord and of the city. He also takes us to a Norwegian beach which is beautiful! And there are tons of kids and dogs running around since it was a beautiful day. We stop at a small cafe near our hostel for lunch which again had amazing food (but I guess most things are better than what Dash and I were eating...711 food and McDonald's...we thought we were saving money eating this!)

After a short weekend away we gotta head to the bus terminal to grab a bus (which ends up being packed and needing an extra bus!) and then onto our airplane and then two trains and a bus back to the flat! It is nice to be home to sleep in my own bed, to not experience fire alarms and some loud girls in the same room as me! But on the whole it was a fun weekend away! I am heading to Rome next weekend and then I think that will be my last weekend trip away before I go home for Christmas in December.

Here are a few pictures from my weekend Oslo Pictures! I hope you all enjoy them! (Click on Oslo Pictures)

Frankfurt, Germany Pics

 Here are some pictures from my trip!


Frankfurt, Germany

I am leaving for Oslo, Norway tomorrow. So will be posting on that trip soon! Hope everyone has a good weekend!

-Emily