Monday morning we all woke up when one of the girls, who had woken up early, came back to let us know that checkout was in half an hour. We all frantically jumped out of bed and packed up all our stuff, turned in our sleeping bags, checked out, and then went to go shower and change in the campground bathrooms (which had no toilet paper or soap, by the way). After that we had a quick breakfast at the campground and then hiked back into town to catch the bus back down the mountain to the train station. Once we got there, first the ticket machine was broken so we had to wait until people arrived at the ticket window a half hour later and then we bought the first tickets out of Assisi. We still had an hour and forty five minutes to kill after that and we were all starving so we ended up going to McDonalds (Yuck, yes I know, I didn't want to do it). McDonalds was completely packed. It took us a good 30 minutes just to get through the line and the food was more expensive than in the states, but it also appeared to be much better quality. I got a fried chicken sandwich that was actually quite delicious. Then we headed back to the train station to wait for our train. Our first train ride only lasted 10 minutes and then we had to to transfer to a different train for the rest of the trip. Not too bad. We ended up getting back into Rome by 6 and we just hung out, did homework, and watched Inside Man (which happened to be in English on our TV for some odd reason) with some of the boys that had come over. They finally left and we all went to bed.
Tuesday:
Tuesday morning we had to get up early to go on a tour of Villa Torlonia. We had no idea where we were going and Ruggero wasn't answering his phone so we ended up just getting on a bus and hoping it was the right one to take us where we wanted to go. Luckily it was and we ended up at the right spot, but it was looking pretty sketch there for a while. The Villa Torlonia was really beautiful and entertaining. The original owner had become an aristocrat through gaining wealth rather than by blood so to make his property more prestigious he added fake ruins and erected gigantic fake egyptian obelisks. The house on the property was really cool, each room had been dedicated to a different art style through the ages so it was kind of a mish-mash but cool to see all the different styles. The last owner of the house actually rented it out to Mussolini for 20 years before the end of WWII and then the American troops took it over in 1943 which also happens to be when the house sustained the most damage (whoops). Then there was another house on the property dedicated solely to stained glass. Absolutely gorgeous. So much craftsmanship goes into those things. After the tour we had lunch in the Piazza Bologna at a delicious Pizzeria and then I went back to the Rome Center to study for a quiz we had that day. Then we had the quiz and a break where I got a nutella crepe with strawberries (delicious!) then a short culture class and the school day was over. After that we went home and chilled, made dinner, and then Irma and I got ready to go to a play. Irma and I went to see La Bella e La Bestia (Beauty and the Beast: the musical). It was so amazing. My favorite night in Rome so far. The acting, singing, and dancing were all absolutely fantastic, the costuming was gorgeous, and even when I couldn't understand what they were saying (since it was in Italian) the play followed the storyline of the Disney movie so I understood what was going on. My favorite song was "Qui Da Noi"-the italian version of "Be Our Guest". It looks very cool on stage. I ended up buying the soundtrack afterwards (I can never resist a good soundtrack). Then we left and got gelato, then went home, did homework for a little while and went to sleep
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