Friday, September 29, 2006

rome pictures and further melancholic chatter

Today we went to campus again to collect our library card, which acts like a student card. Also bought some bus tickets and filled up this form for early vacancy of our rooms (in the hope that the Accomodation Office would be able to re-let the room and refund us a portion of the amount we paid). Also walked around the city center and looked at some shops.

Insert pregnant pause here.

I'm just rather depressed that there don't seem to be any Zara, Mango or H&M... I've checked out the winter coats in these shops and found some that were worth the money. Now I'll have to search all over again and the days in Bath are getting colder.

But that's just a small niggle in a bigger world of niggles.

Basically we went up to Sainsbury's to stock up on some food. Zhi and Yang wanted to cook pasta but I wasn't in the mood for starch so I bought a ready meal. But that's beside the point. The point is... after I've eaten my meal and retreated to my room, I felt an overwhelming sense of loneliness.

I don't know what's the matter with me. It's just that... I realize that if I logged on to MSN at this time (9 pm) I'll find next to nobody online. The silence of my room seems to echo and reverberate and strikes me back when I least expect it. I don't know what to do, and I don't know who to talk to. I could only survey my room in dismay. All that awaits me are chores and more chores and I'm fine with that (feel a sense of achievement after I've completed 'em). But then there's nothing else.

Sometimes I look at Zhi and Yang and find myself at a loss of words. Maybe we've just been seeing too much of each other, 'cos all I feel is depression. Each of us has different agendas that we want to follow, and it's just... hard.

I have a bad feeling that my birthday this year will be a sad affair.

Oh well, sorry for throwing yet another wet blanket. Here are more cheerful pictures from Rome.

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CHEERFUL PICTURES FROM ROME

My boarding pass to Rome was numbered 7! My fave number!

We went to Villa Borghese (Borghese Park) on the first day and found... nothing.

Trevi fountain, where you're supposed to throw coins over your shoulder for your wish to be granted.

So I threw 3!

A road between Trevi and Pantheon.

The Pantheon in all its grandeur.

Inside the Pantheon.

A nice pic of me and Yang in the Pantheon. Looks a bit couply eh?

Wanted to do a Roman pose next to this broken pillar but couldn't think of anything.

Rome isn't all ha-ha-hee-hee. Felt the sight of the woman begging was rather sad.

We then walked to Piazza Navona. This is the fountain at the centre of it, called the Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi.

Each September, artists gather to peddle their skills at the Piazza.

A drinking fountain at Campo de Fiori. The place looks dirty from the remains of a morning market.

Chilling and photowhoring at a nearby cafe (in Rome, cafes and bars serve mostly the same drinks - coffee and alcohol!)

Some random scary-looking fountain.

This is the Tiber river! Like out of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar!

A nice picture of us all posing by the river.

Rome = Vespa city!

As we attempted to walk home, we found Via Nazionale to be a very long stretch of road indeed.

Along it there were shops with rather weird names.

Voila! The Colosseum!

Proof that we WERE there.

And we got in free 'cos it was an European Heritage day. Haha. Saved us 12 Euros! In fact, we got in free for all the sights in Rome, including the Vatican!