Day 10, SAT, 1/16/10: taxi cab times

I woke up on the later side Saturday. Everyone left and went touring around the city, but I decided to have a productive day. I FINALLY reported my IDP credit from this summer which is a huge weight off of my shoulders. That night we were supposed to meet up with one of Marco's friend's Mattheo that he knew from Auburn. Mattheo lives is Rome and said that he would meet us at the discoteca in northern Rome. This was great but the issue suddenly became not where to go, but how to get there. Marco, Hunter, and I headed out and went to the Via Trastevere to try and hail a cab. Hunter started running off in some direction for no apparent reason. We didn't know if we should chase him or not. We thought he'd turn around but before we knew it he was gone. We figured he'd be OK given that we were only a few blocks from the apartment. Anyway we tried sticking our thumbs out for a can and yelling, but nothing seemed to work. I finally asked someone who told us about a certain square to stand in to get a taxi. We got in line and soon enough were on our way. Let me put this cab ride in perspective: I have had some crazy drivers in New York and I had seen the way that Italians drive (they don't believe in traffic lanes). But nothing could prepare me for this cab ride. Zoom we were off into the night. Our driver floored it in between cars and through yellow lights, around mopeds and squeezed past pedestrians. He even went into oncoming traffic at one point to get around some slow cars. We felt safe (given that he was a taxi driver) but the ride was electrifying. We finally made it to Le Carrozzerie- it was a really nice place. Only one floor, but similar to Galleria dei Serpenti. The place didn't get packed until about 2 though. When we went outside to the ATM we walked by some Italian girls. We had a conversation with them in Spitalian (spanish+italian=you get the picture). That went well- I just wish I knew more Italian, it's sort of embarassing only knowing english. anyways we went back in danced a bit. it was a great time. fortunately we were able to hail a cab home, only this time is was a little less hair raising.
PS- Oh and I almost forgot to mention- Hunter wandered around apparently for 3 hours in the neighborhood in a state of delusion before making it back to his digs.