"So'd you guys hear about that Alchemy? Pretty neat, huh?"

Kim has a friend from school who was born in Anzio so she was a little curious about the town. It is a small beach town about an hour train ride outside of Rome. We decided to go there on Saturday and just walk around. It cost a grand total of 3,20 euro to get there. When we got to the station there, we asked for a map and the man gave us the largest map in the world. It was probably over 3 feet wide and included every other small town in the area since there really wasn't anything in Anzio. Also, we got there around 3 in the afternoon, so everything was closed. The central piazza was filled with Carneval-ing children. They all had their costumes on and were just running around with confetti and silly string. There were a lot of princesses, a lion with a sword, some witches, and a spiderman with a cape. We walked around a bit more and saw the harbor. Actually, we smelled it first and then found it. Up the coast from there was the beach which was fairly crowded. It is still way too cold for the beach but there were 2 guys surfing. Mostly there were just people playing soccer or walking dogs. There were a few groups of old people bundled up in heavy winter coats walking around (it was over 60 degrees). Kim and I found a bunch of cool shells and then my sneakers got wet when I tried to rinse the sand off the shells. We saw on the map that there was a large park called Villa Borghese. Since there is the famous one in Rome we wanted to go see this one but it was completely walled off and locked up. We ended up going to the cafe/bar/tabacchi in the train station and eating a bunch of weird European snack foods while watching on the other soccer matches. I don't think either team playing was even Italian.

When we got back to Rome, Kim went to babysit/hang out with some family friends and I went off to get dinner. I met up with Will, Jake, Maria, David, Jillian, Annie, and Michelle at St. Peter's obelisk and went from there to La Cucaracha. It was this little Mexican restaurant right on the north side of the Vatican walls. It was a culturally confusing dinner. We were all speaking English, the waiters were Italian, the menu was in Spanish, and the large table next to us was all French. The food was technically Mexican but tasted very Italianized. I got a good burrito but it tasted exactly like what it was: an Italian burrito. We all had a lot of fun though and the restaurant was really nice. I was just happy to taste something that wasn't bread and mozzarella. After dinner we all went to this cool dance place called Circolo degli Artisti. It was out of the center so there were mostly Italians there. I didn't actually hear any other English speakers there. The music was really crazy. Retro American music and then Italian techno pop. We got to dance to Elvis and the Beach Boys which was just fun and silly. We also decided that we needed to make up a really silly/stupid dance move and say that it is really popular in the States and see if by May anyone else is doing it. 

Sunday we were going to go to Porta Portese to look for postcards and things for Carnevale (which starts in 1 week!!!!), but we over slept. Then Sarah and I were going to cook a big lunch but the grocery stores were all closed. I ended up having a lazy day and tried to read the Italian constitution for my class. Also yesterday, Kim and I met up with Will and Jake and some of Will's friends from the States who were visiting Rome for the weekend. We went to Peanut Bar which was chill and pretty empty being early on a Sunday and it was raining. Giovanni, the owner, was really nice and put on Shakira and then Tiziano Ferro when we asked. When Tiziano Ferro came on, the few Italians that were there all groaned and got up and pretended to leave. I guess he's a sophisticated taste. Giovanni was very impressed that Kim and I knew all the words to one of his songs. 

P.S. The random post titles are usually recent (funny at the time) quotes that were said by me or friends