Top five moments in Italy

It’s my last day in the city and I’d like to go through some of the best and worst that Rome has to offer.

Top 5 best moments in Italy:

1. Does every day at JRS count as a single moment? I don’t care. I am putting it down anyway. Every day we got to learn more about our work I felt more excited and driven.

2. Visiting Assisi with my family. After two weeks wandering around the city, I loved getting to take the train across the countryside and visit a small town. And what better town that the birth pace of my confirmation saint?

3. My first weekend of wandering around the city alone. I was sad to see how sick Sophie was, but I loved riding the Metro solo and taking photos inside Gesu Bascillica, Saint Ignatius Bascillica, Saint Francis Xavier’s Bascillica, the Trevi Fountain, the Altar of the Nation. I had Bob Dylan’s song about Rome coursing through my veins all day.

4. Drinking beers with Sophie in Trastevere. We were hard-pressed to find a solid bar with good beer. While the beer was only standard, we buddied up to a great bar tender who reminisced with me about our trips down Route 66.

5. Walking through the Villa Borghese gardens at night with my family their last night in town. I didn’t know at the time that Sophie was bleeding profusely in our hotel room, so I ignorantly enjoyed the scenery with my family. The fountains, the trees, the statues all looked a little Halloween-y at night.

Honorable mention:

While this memory doesn’t make the list of top 5, I would like to honor the memory of Abby and I having a few drinks in Trastevere. She got a girly fruity drink at the beginning of the night. When I tried to order her a similarly fruity drink at the next bar, the language barrier got in the way and she got rum and pineapple juice instead.
Abby, remember our deal. I petted that Saint Bernard outside the bar, so you have to …

Top 5 worst moments in Italy

1. Getting back to my parents’ hotel only for the woman at the front desk to tell me that Sophie went to the hospital. She slipped on the street (completely sober, I might add) cut open her knee and had to get 12 stitches. My mom and I met her there and were surprised at how efficient and friendly all the staff were. Still, not the best way for my mother to spend her last night in town – reading the International Herald Tribune next to a bunch of sleeping homeless men in a waiting room for three hours.

2. Eating a crappy Italian meal and having to walk all the way home after. I thought my gut was going to explode. Of course, this restaurant was recommended by the hotel.

3. Getting lost. It was late. We had been working all day. All I wanted to do was find my parent’s hotel before they arrived and get some dinner. We wound up wandering around the area, never finding the hotel and most of the eateries were closed.

4. Sophie’s food poisoning the first week I was here. It’s hard to enjoy Rome when your counterpart needs to be 60 seconds away from a bathroom at all times.

5. My dad missing Gesu Basilica. We tried three times to get in to see the resting place of Saint Ignatius. On his last day he went up the steps right as the guards were closing it down. He explained that he as leaving in the morning and just wanted to go in for a minute, but they wouldn’t have it. So, he shoved his way past the guards, walked in and made it about 10 steps before the kindly asked him to GTFO. Way to go, judge.