San Sebastian and Rome!
Hola!
This blog post is all about my weekends in San Sebastian and Rome! Just warning you now, this is a long one, so make sure you have some time if you wanna read it all.
San Sebastian is a town in northern Spain and it is the cutest little beach town. It’s perfect if you’re looking for a super chill and fun weekend. San Sebastian was about 2 and a half weeks ago, and it was one of my favorite trips. I really enjoyed it! The only thing that got me down was the rain, but it wasn’t too bad. My trip started off with a 7 hour bus ride, which actually wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. Once we arrived, my friends Julia, Rachel, Benita, and I dropped our stuff off at our hostel and then started to walk around. We were blown away by how beautiful it is! We grabbed some lunch and then made our way to the mountain that we were about to hike up so we could watch the sunset. It was kinda rough, but once we made it to the top it was totally worth it. We took a million pics at the top and then found a good spot to watch the sunset. It was so beautiful and an amazing view!
After the sunset, we just grabbed some dinner and walked around a little more. We wanted to get to bed early because in the morning we were supposed to go to a little town in France for a day trip, however, I actually forgot my passport in Madrid! So unfortunately, I couldn’t go. It turned out to be a good thing though because everyone says if you study abroad, you need to go on a solo trip. I had the day in San Sebastian to do whatever I wanted! I ended up at first getting starbucks (of course right?), and then going to the aquarium. I also did some shopping and bought some souvenirs. It was a really good day! I wanted to go to the beach, but it was drizzling on and off almost all day. I did find a pretty cool spot to relax and enjoy the view though! That night, my friends and I tried pintxos, which you have to do when coming to San Sebastian. It’s really cool! Different bars have many plates of food out, and you can try a portion of whatever you want. It costs only 2 euros per portion, which is a pretty good deal! We went to 3 different bars, and the bartenders were super fun to talk to. We also met two australian guys who just graduated high school and took a year off to travel around Europe. It’s easy to meet a lot of cool people from travelling around! The next day, my friends and I went in a cable car up a mountain to see the view! Once we got up there, it was breathtaking! We also got to ride a roller coaster around the top of the mountain. It was actually really fun, and we weren’t expecting it to be like a mini roller coaster. It seemed like we were riding over the ocean, and it was honestly so cool.
After that we made our way down the mountain and found a place to eat lunch. They had really good burgers and gluten free bread. I was super excited about the bread lol. Definitely my chow of the trip. Oh let me explain what that means. My friends and I have a pow, wow, and chow of every trip. The pow is the worst thing that happened, wow is the best, and chow is the best thing you ate or drank. It’s pretty fun comparing everyone’s pow’s, wow’s, and chow’s. Anyway, after we ate we walked around a little more and made our way to the bus station for our 7 hour ride back to Madrid. I really liked this trip, and even though I forgot my passport, everything worked out for the best!
Okay now about Roma! I fell in love with Italy! And it was really cool because it was the first time I was outside of Spain. I kept responding to Italian in Spanish lol. Anyway, the trip started out kinda rough. Because Jackie and I are broke college students, we decided to sleep in the airport the night before our early flight. We decided we would lose some sleep instead of 30 euros on a taxi. Jackie fell asleep, but I was definitely not comfortable to fall asleep on a cold floor. So I got two hours of sleep on the plane and that was it lol. When we arrived in Rome, we got some coffee and did some of the touristy things. We saw the Victor Emmanuel National Monument, the Trevi Fountain, the Vatican, and also the Pantheon. We ended up getting about 35 thousand steps that day. I was so exhausted! For dinner, Jackie and I met up with our friends who are studying abroad in Rome! I know a lot of people studying in Rome because Loyola actually has a campus there. My friend Francie is in nursing with me and one of my really good friends, so it was really good to see her! At dinner, they had a student deal that included a bunch of food and some wine for only 15 euros each. It was so good and the dessert wine was to die for! After dinner, we were in Rome so of course we had to get gelato. It was probably the best gelato I have ever had! Then, Francie and I went to our hostel to try to get some sleep because we were so exhausted.
Since Francie studies in Rome, she was my tour guide the entire weekend! My second day in Rome consisted of Francie and I going to the Colosseum and the Roman Forum. We spent the entire day there, but took a break to get some pizza and gelato. I was really surprised how many restaurants offer gluten free pizza and pasta! Because we were at the Colosseum, I had Lizzie McGuire stuck in my head and was constantly singing “What dreams are made of”. It was a really fun day! At night, we went to a gluten free restaurant and as we were walking across the river, we came across a street performer on the bridge. He was amazing! He was singing American songs, so it was really fun to sing along with him. He even attracted a huge crowd of people because it was obvious he loved performing. Francie and I listened to like 10 of his songs before continuing to explore Rome. I got to meet some of her friends and we had a really fun night!
The next day, my last day in Rome, we went to the Vatican to see the pope. He was performing an Angelus ceremony. We didn’t have a good spot, so we could barely see but it was still really cool. After, we went into the St. Peter’s Basilica, which is the largest church in the world. It is crazy how big and beautiful it is! After that, we got lunch and met up with one of Francie’s friends! We did some more touristy things, and then I had the night to myself. I went to get dinner and ate some gluten free pizza one last time. The waiter was super nice and we had a pretty good conversation about travelling and a bunch of stuff. I stayed one more night in the hostel and then woke up early and went to the airport to come home to Madrid. I loved Rome, and so far it is my favorite trip! Rome is amazing, but unfortunately the public transportation sucks, so you can’t expect to get anywhere fast in Rome lol. Other than that, it was an amazing trip! I still can’t believe how much money I spent on food. I had enough pizza, pasta, and gelato to last a lifetime lol. No, I could never get tired of Italian. Well that’s it for now guys! See ya later!
