A.S. Roma vs. Palermo futbol game!

Yesterday morning, we woke up and decided that we wanted to go an A.S. Roma soccer game. The schedules for soccer are different here because they are only planned that week, and you never really know who you are going to be playing. Roma had a home game last night against Palermo (a city on the island of Sicily), so Cara and Sydney went to the Tabacchi to purchase tickets for the group. They called us after they got there and said that we needed to go down there ourselves, because we had to show ID. Korissa, Jordan, Neal, and I headed down the street to get our tickets. Apparently for guys, the tickets cost more; we paid 10 euro, and Jordan and Neal had to pay 17 for the same seats -- another perk of being a woman!

The game was at 6 o’clock at night so we went home to shower and eat before we had to leave. We wanted to leave with plenty of time to go because the Stadio Olympico is way up in the North of Rome and we weren’t positive how to get there. We left at 4:15ish and hopped on a bus that would take up directly to the stadium; however, it was moving at a snail’s pace because there was so much vehicle traffic trying to get to the same place. We got off at the next stop because we figured we could walk faster. This may not have been the best idea since it was a lot farther than we realized, and we ended up walking for about an hour and a half when we realized we should probably ask someone where the stadium is exactly. Some people had no idea where it was and other people just pointed in a vague direction. It was 6 o’clock at this point and the game was starting so we flagged down a taxi and asked him how much it would cost for us to get there; he said 7 euro so Cara, Sydney, Korissa, and I jumped in and he took us right to the gate of the stadium.

We never found our reserved seats when we got to the game, but instead, we walked all the way down towards the front row behind one of the goals. Ten euro for as close as we were was a pretty sweet deal. I always heard that European soccer was crazy, but I’m so glad that I actually got to experience it in person. They have so many chants that I, unfortunately, could not understand but would really love to learn for a future game. The fans from Palermo all sat together in one section, but there were dozens of security guards around them – I guess to prevent any sort of physical confrontations between Roma and Palermo fans. Whenever Roma scored, the stadium would erupt in cheers. Roma ended up winning 4-1 so everyone left very happy!

Sydney and I at the A.S. Roma game!

Stadio Olympico

A.S. Roma vs. Palermo

Roma fans

Cara, Sydney, and I watching the game!

This morning I set my alarm for 9 AM to get an early jump on the weekly Porta Portese market! I couldn’t go last Sunday because of the Venice bus nightmare so I was ready to do some damage. I split up from Cara and Korissa so I could do my own thing and walked around for a few hours browsing all of the stands. The market is huge; it seemed like an endless line of tents and vendors. I ended up getting eye shadow, a necklace, two pairs of post earrings, and an umbrella. I’m just hanging out at the apartment now; I got all of my homework done on Friday so I’m keeping Cara company in the kitchen while she studies for a test. We booked our flights to Paris for the beginning of April and I am SO excited. Paris is definitely the one place in Europe that I’m dying to go to most. Tonight, the four of us are going to a romantic roommate Valentine’s Day dinner!

A few of the tents at the Porta Portese market
View from one of our balconies!