Vulnerable

March 29, 2018 (Age: 17)

Dear Diary,

Today was our last day in Rome/Italy. There was a lot of walking but it overall was another great day.

This morning we went to the Colosseum. We had a local tour guide which showed us around. The Colosseum was stunning! I took some amazing pictures of the outside and the inside. Rome is very busy and there are so many people and lots of traffic.

Oh my god, I need to tell you about my awful lunch experience! When we were on the bus, our tour guide told us that there is a little vendor on the street that serves healthy food. Since we all wanted to try it out, we decided to go where she recommended. We crossed the street and nearly felt like we were going to get run over. But we made it across. I swear we must've went to the wrong place.
We got there and the guy knew close to no English. There were quite a few signs that had English on them but he spoke no English. So we go in, and he guides us to a table. He hands us a "menu" that only had four pictures, no labels and only two prices. So in other words, it was an awful menu. We ended up choosing to order hamburgers because it was easy and simple, and it shouldn't complicate anything. Once it came to ordering, holy shit it got difficult. One of the girls who came with us was having a hard time. She asked for pomegranate juice then the guy is like, "orange juice?". She says no and repeats herself. Then the guy goes "coca cola?". She shook her head, indicating she didn't want a drink. He pipes up again and is like, "agua?" (which is Italian for water. Annoyed, she said no and turned away. The part of the food is where it got worse. The hamburger I got came to me on a fancy appearing wooden plate. The bottom of the bun was burnt to a crisp. The patty had an appearance as if it was a precooked patty that was just taken out of the freezer and thrown on a pan. The worst part, the patty that was in my bun was still cold! On one of the sides of the burger it was cold. Luckily it wasn't fresh meat or uncooked or else I could've gotten really sick. There was also zero flavor. Samantha ordered a burger too and didn't even get it. The customer service and the food were simply awful. Do NOT recommend.

After the incident, which made us all mad, we decided to go to a nearby Burger King to use the bathroom and grab some fries. Samantha said she would go get food while the rest of us went to the washroom. According to Samantha, probably seven people cut in front of her and cut her off. So we left empty handed and hungry.

Besides that, we went to St. Peters Basilica church (and a few others) and they were all stunning as per usual. We ended up going to supper in a cute restaurant. The first course was pasta, second course was chicken legs, potatoes, and a salad. That was all really good too.

Since it was a student's 18th birthday, the staff came out dancing and singing. They gave her tiramisu with a giant sparkler on the top.

Oh, I also bought mom a red rosary. It looks like a necklace but you hold onto it whenever you pray. I thought my mom would like it so I got it for her.

Our flight home is going to be long. One hour to Frankford, then 11 hours to Canada. It'll be rough. We also need to leave the hotel at 6:15am. It is 11:15pm right now. So I'm waking up at 5:30. So, I should get to bed.

Buona Notte! (Goodnight)

Sarah