Rome rocks.

But in a much different way than I thought it would. I have actually been pretty disappointed in Rome in general. It is SUPER touristy. Like, probably more tourists than Romans, touristy. That part has been super disappointing. I should have known better - obviously Rome is huge. But I realized after I got here that my mental picture of Italy has been small-town, little cafes, cute shops, lots of interesting buildings and history - not big cities stuffed with tourists. My own fault for being disillusioned. I will make a point next time to spend much more time in Italy and visit the small towns, because that's what Italy is all about in my head.

The accomodations have been interesting. First night, stayed with Patrick. Second night with Jeff. Mom, here is where you don't freak out. I had another couch lined up for the third night but then the guy had to cancel because of work. So I went to the train station. The tourist information desk was closed and the line for the regular information booth was INSANE. While I was waiting in line (and I probably had been for almost an hour at that point), I spotted three guys getting off the train with big hiking packs on, so I went over and asked them if they were headed to a hostel, and if so, I could join them.

They were. Success! So I followed... all the way to Anna B's. Apparently they had printed off the first result on Google maps... which was some woman's house. Awesome. So we parked our bags on a street corner while two of them went off asking door-to-door at hotels what their prices were. I went across the street to an internet cafe that advertised a B&B in the doorway and asked about pricing. They had information for one that was 27EUR per night. I used up all my cash for that, since they didn't accept cards.  We went out and had a drink at the Piazza (don't remember the name of it) and then headed back. Had breakfast at some little bar down the street this morning (everything here is a bar. kinda weird), and then parted ways.

Went back to Jeff's to pick up my shoes and pillow, since I left them there. Now I'm at Elio's, waiting for him to get home. It was a pretty exhausting day. More later!