About last night...

Last night was a lot a lot of fun, and then it wasn't. I shall explain. Here are some pictures to provide a little visual assistance to what happened.

Anyways, most of yesterday morning was spent in "preparation" for a test that I had at 3 in the afternoon. I studied in my room, and by study I mean I figured out what everyone in our room was going to be bringing to the party upstairs. We were responsible for bringing some booze and food, as was everyone else. I must say, my bossiness paid off: our room did a good job providing. Anyways, I didn't leave the room until around 1. I still needed to get my Secret Santa recipient a present for our party that was to come, and I needed to pick up some liquor at the GS. At the GS, I found some lemoncello and some random Italian liquor from north Italy that stood out. I also found a "Merry Christmas Barbie" pink Christmas hat filled with candy and also bought my giftee (a girl, though the hat would have been a funny gift for a guy, even more so I suppose) some Baci chocolates as well.

I went down to JCU to take the test. First I stopped at Bar San Calisto, seeing it for what I thought would be the last time (ahem, foreshadowing, ahem). I also said my happy farewells to JCU, or so I thought...

Anyways, I got back around 6, and we made sure everything was in order for the party. It was not. We realized that the eggnog was supposed to take a fairly long time to blend, with an electric mixer. Beating it all by hand would take forever. So we kind of improvised, and used a freezer to cool it for a little while instead of the fridge for a much longer while. We figured we had messed up, but I should have known better: anything that is fat on top of sugar on top of fat is hard to screw up.

Also, Joel and Andy went and got pizzas from downstairs (my brilliant idea, and a total guy move: why make food when you can buy it elsewhere). It went faster than any other food at the party. Yay for that.

Anyways, the party started at 8, and it was a really, really good, festive time. We were loud: our party was two stories directly above my room, and I could hear it from the inside of my room. Fortunately, no one lives between us. All the JCU kids were there, and we had a rocking, Christmasy time. The girls took it very seriously. They were dressed up very nice and pretty and whatnot. Probably the nicest they have dressed other than the trip to the embassy to the Vatican. The guys, on the other hand, went for Christmas corny (ridiculous Christmas sweaters, etc). I was business up top, party on the bottom: I wore my bright striped dress shirt, and then my plaid pajama bottoms, with my comfy, ridiculously over-the-top slippers. I got plenty of complements on my rather unusual attire.

Lots of alcohol was consumed by just about all. We had a ton of stuff, but a lot of it was gone by the end. We introduced the egg nog at about 10 PM, and by 10:45 our huge batch was nearly gone. It was quite tasty, if I may say so myself. I drank it mainly to sober up (ironic, no?): I had only eaten a banana between 9:30 AM and the party at 8 PM. Yeah. Bad life decisions.

The secret Santa thing was fun as well. Highlight gifts included the presentations by the some of the Santas who spent forever composing poems, ding-dong-ditching their gift person and leaving little trinkets around, etc. The men of 123? We wrapped our presents in GS bags. So much for preparation. If it weren't for me, though, none of my roommates would have wrapped their stuff at all. So at least we did that. I received a very cute ornament from Anne and chocolate. I appreciate that. Gifts are a weird stuff. Generally, those are things that I would not have bought with my own money, so theoretically I should be better off with the money that the gifts cost rather than the actual gifts, right? Well, no, because we get the added memories from the gifts themselves as a side benefit. I guess. Anyways, I was quite happy with that.

From there, we decided to go out to a club. Always, always a bad decision. Why did I not remind myself: I hate clubs. Hate em, hate em, hate em: it's everything bad about a dorm party, taken to a whole new level. Shitty rap/dance music, really loud, you can't hear yourself think, and you certainly cannot hear anybody else who is trying to talk to you. Plus, I was in recovery from the party, so the bumping bass didn't help me avoid a headache.

It was a bit of an adventure getting there. We had trouble getting a cab at Piazzale degli Eroi, so we walked down to the Vatican. It's so pretty there at night. I was kind of hoping that we were going to call it a night after that, but we didn't. We found cabs, but I jumped in the cab with a bunch of girls who didn't know where we were going. All we knew is that it was in Trastevere. We got dropped off in Piazza Trilussa, but when we called the others, we were told it was at Porta Portese. Darn. So I led the girls there, lying that I had no doubt in my mind to get there. I actually nailed it on my first semi-guess (at least getting to Porta Portese), so the girls were impressed, and I was lucky. Still, the area was sketchy as hell (this is where we went to that flea market, Mom and Dad. Imagine that area, dark, dirty, at 1 in the morning. It was bad stuff). Still, at Porta Portese, we couldn't find the club. It was way, way down the street. So far, this club thing was going bad, and I hadn't even stepped in. Then there was a 10 euro cover for guys only (I can see why... there were still more dudes in there than women. Are those guys that desperate to get laid? Or do people really enjoy that stuff? I don't get it). Then there was the whole "Oh my God I can't hear myself think" thing, which I put up with for about an hour and a half (I did dance, but, I mean, that does get old fast). I decided to leave on my own, by myself. So I walked back from Via Portuense to Medag. Google maps says that is 8 km, so it was a bit of a hike. Anyways, it took me back by JCU and Bar San Calisto, and the city was so beautiful at night. And very, very quiet. See, that's what I'm going to miss the most about Rome: the beautiful strolls around the city. The best things really are free, not paying ten euro for the privilege of being miserable in a really loud place.

Here is my plan for the next few days. Today: I have to finalize my packing, and take a bag down to the Architecture studio for storage. Actually, I should do that really soon. Tomorrow, I am flying to Madrid in the morning. I have no idea what I'll be doing tomorrow there, but then on Sunday I am meeting Max at our hostel midday. Then, Monday, we are flying to Barcelona, then Wednesday we fly to Berlin, Friday we train to Munich, then Sunday I meet my parents at the airport in Munich. So that's the master plan right now. We'll see how that goes.