On Saturday Becca, Stephen and I had planned to attend a day trip put on by the school to Lago Bracciano. The trip didn't leave until eleven or so, so Becca and I slept in and packed lunches for the train ride. We met Stephen on the tramline before walking down the street to the train station, where we met the rest of the students going on the trip. The Grad Students leading the trip insisted we buy tickets even though I never have as I was under the impression that no one ever checks them. As we were waiting in line to buy these tickets I mentioned how I never bothered to buy train tickets. Everyone around me looked at me shocked before each telling stories of having their tickets checked. A few girls had been fined seventy euros for not having a ticket. I couldn't believe it. I quickly calculated in my head the number of times I had personally ridden the train, eleven, and then I thought about all the people I had told not to buy tickets. I could live with myself if I got a ticket, but if Becca, Kelsey, or Jessica and her friends had been ticketed I would have felt awful. I had been, apparently, very lucky. I bought a ticket for our day trip, and sure enough on the train ride they checked it. It was a soothing train ride and after talking with Stephen and Becca for the first half we all split up in different seat/ bench areas and took a quick nap. We woke up in time to take pictures of the castle from afar. Our group leader Mickey, promised they would be great. They were not that great, Becca and I ended up with a lot of pictures of trees, we weren't quick enough to judge the timing of the train. We arrived in Lago Bracciano at the tiny train station, so small that instead of having an underground tunnel system you simply walk across the tracks to get into town. We stopped for a quick photo op over the lake before setting a meeting point and time at the town's piazza. Stephen Becca and
I joined with Lindsay, a girl from my opera class that Stephen knew quite well, and a friend of hers whose husband and child were visiting. We aimed for the town's main tourist attraction, the castle. Mickey had warned us that it was only open at very particular and seemingly strange times. She was right, the castle was closed and the sign said it was only open on select sundays and tuesdays for three hours.Strange indeed. The castle was smack dab in the middle of town making it difficult to get pictures of the entire structure. We wandered onward and found a beautiful overlook of the lake. In the meantime Stephen had made friends with the little boy, who was both cute and cumbersome as Becca and I discussed later. We weren't prepared or used to being on a child's time schedule and it was making us restless. We decided to separate and Stephen joined us. We wandered the rest of the town looking for other beautiful
parks or photo opportunities. We found no such thing. This town wasn't quite as scenic as the ones we visited with ISA. It had things like grocery stores and houses, and that was it. We didn't even stumble upon any churches in our wanderings. We checked several pastry and gelato stores but ultimately decided there was nothing worthy of our limited funds. We walked down residential streets before finding our way back to the main pizza, probably a half an hour or so before the designated meeting time.We sat in the warm afternoon sun and snacked on cookies that Stephen brought with him, waiting for everyone else. Time passes quickly and we were back at the train station. This train station was so small that it had no attendant, the ticket sales were from a machine. an all Italian machine. that made no change. Becca and I had five euro bills and not enough small change to buy tickets. As we attempted to find an employee to ask for change we met a man who had pockets
that were ridiculously full of change. He made change for both of us, and then later for Stephen. As we were waiting for our train Stephen got a call from a few of his friends who were in Paris. This was the weekend of the volcano eruption. His friends were trapped and very worried about how their academics would be affected from missing class. Many professors at the AUR have very strict attendance policies, but with the volcano eruption booking a plane or train within a week was nearly impossible. We later found out that a whole group of our classmates took a taxi from Munich, Germany back to Rome. Stephen passed his phone off to the Grad Students, and we spent the train ride home talking about the volcano, and how it might effect us. Once home Becca and I made burger plans once again with Joey, Berkley, and Stephen. We had some time before meeting, and I needed to shoe shop for my sister so we made a trip down Via del Corso. I love walking down Corso on the weekends because all the street performers are out, tonight however there was more entertainment than we bargained for. There must have been a goth festival of some sort as dark clothed/haired/eyelinered youths swarmed the street. And surprise surprise they scared Becca. I thought this was pretty funny, especially after she shared that all the goth people she knew back home were really nice, but these ones were scary. We made our way to H&M and I took pictures of all the cute shoes that I thought Kelsey might like. I planned to email them to her later so she could give me a better idea of what I should get her. Once our goal was accomplished we headed for Burgers. At this point we were super hungry and ready for a well made burger. We met everyone outside the burger place in Stephen's neighborhood. It was a tiny place, but Becca and I were most excited by the cheddar cheese sitting on the counter. Yellow cheese in general just doesn't exist in Rome. They have lots and lots of mozarrella, swiss, and gouda, which are all great cheeses, but cheddar cheese on a real burger. Our mouths were watering before we even ordered. I got the Bacon Gold, a delicious bacon cheese burger and a cherry coke. I ran me about seven euros, but it was beyond worth it. We chowed down our burgers and laughed and yelled at Joey for not taking us here earlier, and then thanked him for showing it to us. Once we were done eating we headed to the nearest tram stop, and passed a gelato spot on the way. We stopped in and found cookies and cream gelato. Berkeley and Becca both ordered cones of only cookies and cream which amused the Romans behind the counter no end. I had the cookies and cream with a few other flavors. It was very good gelato. With only a few weeks left we had found another gelato shop that needed frequenting. Once back in the apartment I discovered that Deacon Matt had emailed me, and we were set to meet for church in the morning.
I joined with Lindsay, a girl from my opera class that Stephen knew quite well, and a friend of hers whose husband and child were visiting. We aimed for the town's main tourist attraction, the castle. Mickey had warned us that it was only open at very particular and seemingly strange times. She was right, the castle was closed and the sign said it was only open on select sundays and tuesdays for three hours.Strange indeed. The castle was smack dab in the middle of town making it difficult to get pictures of the entire structure. We wandered onward and found a beautiful overlook of the lake. In the meantime Stephen had made friends with the little boy, who was both cute and cumbersome as Becca and I discussed later. We weren't prepared or used to being on a child's time schedule and it was making us restless. We decided to separate and Stephen joined us. We wandered the rest of the town looking for other beautiful 
parks or photo opportunities. We found no such thing. This town wasn't quite as scenic as the ones we visited with ISA. It had things like grocery stores and houses, and that was it. We didn't even stumble upon any churches in our wanderings. We checked several pastry and gelato stores but ultimately decided there was nothing worthy of our limited funds. We walked down residential streets before finding our way back to the main pizza, probably a half an hour or so before the designated meeting time.We sat in the warm afternoon sun and snacked on cookies that Stephen brought with him, waiting for everyone else. Time passes quickly and we were back at the train station. This train station was so small that it had no attendant, the ticket sales were from a machine. an all Italian machine. that made no change. Becca and I had five euro bills and not enough small change to buy tickets. As we attempted to find an employee to ask for change we met a man who had pockets 
that were ridiculously full of change. He made change for both of us, and then later for Stephen. As we were waiting for our train Stephen got a call from a few of his friends who were in Paris. This was the weekend of the volcano eruption. His friends were trapped and very worried about how their academics would be affected from missing class. Many professors at the AUR have very strict attendance policies, but with the volcano eruption booking a plane or train within a week was nearly impossible. We later found out that a whole group of our classmates took a taxi from Munich, Germany back to Rome. Stephen passed his phone off to the Grad Students, and we spent the train ride home talking about the volcano, and how it might effect us. Once home Becca and I made burger plans once again with Joey, Berkley, and Stephen. We had some time before meeting, and I needed to shoe shop for my sister so we made a trip down Via del Corso. I love walking down Corso on the weekends because all the street performers are out, tonight however there was more entertainment than we bargained for. There must have been a goth festival of some sort as dark clothed/haired/eyelinered youths swarmed the street. And surprise surprise they scared Becca. I thought this was pretty funny, especially after she shared that all the goth people she knew back home were really nice, but these ones were scary. We made our way to H&M and I took pictures of all the cute shoes that I thought Kelsey might like. I planned to email them to her later so she could give me a better idea of what I should get her. Once our goal was accomplished we headed for Burgers. At this point we were super hungry and ready for a well made burger. We met everyone outside the burger place in Stephen's neighborhood. It was a tiny place, but Becca and I were most excited by the cheddar cheese sitting on the counter. Yellow cheese in general just doesn't exist in Rome. They have lots and lots of mozarrella, swiss, and gouda, which are all great cheeses, but cheddar cheese on a real burger. Our mouths were watering before we even ordered. I got the Bacon Gold, a delicious bacon cheese burger and a cherry coke. I ran me about seven euros, but it was beyond worth it. We chowed down our burgers and laughed and yelled at Joey for not taking us here earlier, and then thanked him for showing it to us. Once we were done eating we headed to the nearest tram stop, and passed a gelato spot on the way. We stopped in and found cookies and cream gelato. Berkeley and Becca both ordered cones of only cookies and cream which amused the Romans behind the counter no end. I had the cookies and cream with a few other flavors. It was very good gelato. With only a few weeks left we had found another gelato shop that needed frequenting. Once back in the apartment I discovered that Deacon Matt had emailed me, and we were set to meet for church in the morning.
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