The Last Night

Friday night was our last night in Rome. It was a very productive night as we tried to do everything that we had not done as well as revisiting/retrying all the best things and places in Rome. After basically an entire day of shopping with Taras, Greg, Cyle, Frederic, and Keith, on via del Corso, I was able to complete the last of my x-mas shopping and pick up a few nice things for myself. I had an interesting experience during my last purchase. Everyone had split and head back to our apartment to get ready for dinner. Keith and I found ourselves in the middle of an accidental haggling battle. I had stopped in a shop to check out some different prices and styles of an item that will remain nameless (because x-mas is a week away). In trying to do some pricing and some style comparing of other shops in which I had looked, the lady began to lower the price in the attempt to sell me. What she didn’t realize is that I had no money on me so I continued to tell her I liked the item but had no money. She must have thought I was trying to get her to lower the price because that is exactly what she did. Eventually she had lowered the price so much I told her I would only buy it if she sold it for a 100 euro. She called me back into the store as I walked away to lower the price to the 100 euro level that I asked for. Keith and I looked at each other and realized we had the opportunity to purchase something at the price of 100 euro down from 165. She claimed that business was slow and she really needed to sell. She would only cut me the deal if I paid her in cash without leaving the store. Keith and I combined our money and were still short so he ended up sprinting to the nearest ATM (there isn’t one) on Corso while I stalled in the store.

After finishing up the shopping we went to Alfredo’s for dinner. The group of us with whom I consider myself to be very good friends was there: Greg, Cyle, Mark, Frederic, Keith, Kristin, Shelby, Bri, Joel, Matt, Kali, Lindsey, Lara, and Eda (There were a lot there so sorry if I missed anyone). This was one of the best meals, if not the best meal, I had during my trip abroad. They served us an enormous amount of food: bread, salad, steak, pasta alfredo, tiramasu, wine, and water. The meal was delicious and we took our time eating it to socialize and remenisce on our trip abroad. We talked about the high points and the low points of the trip and enjoyed each others company for a while. Some of the group went to Campo di Fiori to catch up with Cicca and Marco. I chose not to go because I did not want to get involved with the emotional aspect that consumed much of the group.

Instead, Keith and I sat outside “the red bar” and drank some of our favorite drinks. We relaxed and talked about some future plans and ideas for reuniting the group back in America. Some ideas that came up included renting a lakehouse for a week and taking an RV road trip from the east coast to the west coast. Meanwhile, we smoked cigars and fielded calls from members of the group who were wondering where we were.

The night later led the boys of Campo Marzio to Giolitti’s, our apartment’s favorite past time. Mark and Ryan tried the gigante and both finished with pretty serious head and stomach aches. (the gigante is 12 euros worth of gelato for those of you who don’t know). Cyle and I tried using up all of my meal tickets on expensive desserts to find out that they are not accepted on the desserts we bought (thanks for paying and sorry about that Cyle). We then went back to our apartment and cleaned like crazy and packed all of our stuff.

The last stop of the night was back over to the Borgo Pio apartment where we sat around for a few hours, until the early hours of the morning. We told stories and spoke about the plans for meeting in the future. We eventually headed back to our apartment in time to round up the last of our stuff and catch our cab. Cyle, Greg, Keith, and I ended up staying awake the whole night.