Day #58 in Orvieto (Roma game)

April 21, 2013 – Sunday

We woke up this morning still so exhausted from our trip! After having breakfast and gathing our stuff for the day, we took the funiculare down to the train headed to Rome. On the train, there was the cutest little boy (probably 4-5 years old) and he kept trying to come over to our seats but his mom would bring him back. He smiled at us the whole way to Rome, and when Joeli took out her apple he started to excitedly yell MELA! MELA! (APPLE! APPLE!). So the whole train ride was entertaining. We arrived in Rome and then made our way to the metro, which dropped us off at Piazza del Popolo and then we had to get the tram to ride up to the stadium. We were running a little bit late – we were supposed to meet the rest of the group outside the stadium – but our train was a little late so we were behind. We made it through security and proceeded to get into the stadium with a million other people, all decked out in Roma gear. Thankfully, we walked in the general direction of where our seats were and Alessandro was there to happily greet us. We were the first group to arrive which was surprising because we thought we were so late! There was another group coming from Pompeii and their train was late too. But soon everyone arrived to the stadium safely and the game started. I definitely felt like a rowdy Gryffindor quidditch match – Rome’s colors are maroon and orange or red and yellow, everyone had scarves on, etc. I wish I could’ve understood the cheers/chants but at the same time… Alessandro said that we didn’t want to know what they were saying. Roma was supposed to beat Pescara by a lot but it ended as a 1-1 tie. So the Roma fans were pretty angry. While it was cool to watch the game, it was just as interesting to watch people! 

After the game, we didn’t have much time to hang out in Rome so we traveled back to the train station and hung out there for about half an hour before our train to Orvieto. I realized that this was the 10^th train I was on in the past four days (four trains to Riomaggiore, 4 trains back to Orvieto, one train to Rome, and the last train to Orvieto). While the trains were fun at first, I was ready to be done! Laura and I decided to go for a walk on the train after the first 45 minutes because we thought that our friends that were returning from Paris might be on the same train. So we walked up and down the whole train and we got a lot of glares from people. We weren’t sure why but everyone kept looking up and staring. We both had our ROMA football/soccer t-shirts on and as we walked through the train, there was one boy (this one was maybe 8 years old) that was sitting with his family, and he started to jump up as we walked by! He unzippered his jacket and ripped it open (in a Superman way) and showed us his ROMA t-shirt that matched ours! I pointed at my shirt and grinned, but I couldn’t think of anything to say! So we both grinned at each other for like five seconds before Laura and I continued on walking. But then we reached the end of the train and turned around to pass the family again, and I glanced at the little boy – he pointed at his shirt again and was like ROMA!!! and I made the same exact grinning face at him and pointed to my shirt… because I couldn’t think of anything to say the second time, either! It was ok though because it was one of those moments that didn’t really need words. He was just so excited that we were wearing the same shirt!