"Dimmi. Dimmi. Dimmi! WHAT DO YOU WANT?!"

11:32 PM, GMT+1

We heard that particular phrase when we walked into a Burger King in Rome so Britt could buy fries-- how American. "Dimmi" in Italian means "tell me". You'll hear it all the time from cashiers. So after we ordered, the cashier was speaking to the couple behind us, who were not paying attention in the slightest bit. He decided to get their attention another way.

Unfortunately, they spoke neither Italian nor English. They were French... and quicker than lightning, the cashier switched over to French to take their order.

Okay. When it's at the point where the McDonald's cashiers speak at least three languages and you can only speak one, it's time to re-evaluate your life.

This weekend we went to Rome, if you haven't figured that out yet. I finished midterms last week and caught the 11 AM train out of Milan, effectively using the last of my Eurail pass. Why Rome? Well, Britt told me she and her class were going to be there. Why not? My travel pass was going to expire soon anyway. May as well go see a pretty place.

I had a hostel booked, and after the 4 1/2 hour train ride, I hunted for a map (which I am framing in gold for helping me navigate Rome the ENTIRE trip), and went to my hostel. Wasn't bad, and cost me like 10 Euro for the night. Afterwards, I went to go meet Britt at her hostel, and got to say hello to people I hadn't seen in awhile, like Erica.

I chose to keep my valuables with Britt in the hotel (which she was staying at with her entire class of like 50 people), and left it in the safe of the room she shared with her Florence roommate Stephanie. My backpack I carried with me-- never know when you might need something. And I packed light anyway.

We went to go get some food at 5:30, because we were going to be taken to a private tour of the Sistine Chapel at like 7:30 PM. I tagged along-- thanks again, Britt. How many people get to sit on the floor of the Sistine Chapel? Not many-- and not for long. But we did. And I had great portions of the place explained to me. Although I still think Michelangelo should have researched what a whale looked like before he ended up drawing an oversized bass next to Jonah. But I got to experience firsthand a Rab Hatfield lecture. According to the Syracuse folks, Hatfield is the equivalent of Chuck Norris in the art department.

Then it was back to the hotel at like 9:45. I was just going to grab my stuff, but I stayed a little longer in order to say goodnight and all that. Stephanie turned on the TV, and a movie called "The Brothers Solomon" was on. It was in Italian. I watched a little bit of it... and then woke up the next morning. Midterms really took it out of me. And yes, I passed out in their hotel room.

After waking up, we decided to have breakfast. AKA I mooched off of the free breakfast the hotel provided for its customers. It was awesome! First time I had eggs for breakfast since orientation.

We had a bed-and-breakfast waiting for us for Saturday night, so we headed over there after breaking fast. It might have been the best experience I've had with an overnight room. If anyone is ever in Rome, I highly recommend it- Diocleziano B&B. It's only like five minutes from the train station.

The rest of our weekend passed by in a touristy way. Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, the like. But on Sunday, we got to see two things: Porta Portese, which is the biggest outdoor market in Italy, and the Italian National We're-The-Shit day.

In other words, the army rolled out their copters, tanks, tents, battlefield computers, planes, and had an airshow going. It was cool- planes were flying overhead, doing the smoke-thing in the colors of the Irish flag.

Then the train strike prevented me from going home that night, and I had to stay yet another night. But that was okay. We found a restaurant that had tacked pictures of Tigger and Winnie the Pooh all over the walls.

I'm listening to the Phantom of the Opera right now, by the way. Anyhow.

See y'all later.