My friend and I still had four days left before our flight back to Armenia. Of course we were happy to have four days to enjoy Italy but the problem was we had no place to stay. Our contract with the office that provided us with the apartment in Perugia was only for a month and that month had just finished. “So”, my friend said, “it’s time to look for a hotel online.” I thought it was a good idea and we began our research. We wanted to book a room in a hotel in Rome as during the whole month we had been to Rome only once and naturally didn't manage to examine neither all the historical monuments nor even the shops.

I don’t know why, maybe we just didn’t have enough experience but we didn’t found anything in the Internet. All the hotels either didn’t offer the opportunity to book a room online or were just too expensive for us. Of course we could go to Rome and book a room on the spot but we weren’t sure that we could find something suitable for us. I know maybe it’s strange for Europeans but to be in a big strange city without knowing beforehand that they have a place to live is an unacceptable thing for two nineteen-year-old Armenian girls. Many Armenians consider themselves Europeans but I know we aren’t Europeans but nor we are Asians. We are somewhere on the crossroad between Europe and Asia. Nowadays everyone in our country talks about European standards, European outlook, European way of life, etc., so I was very glad to have an opportunity to see and to explore the real Europe. That is why I wanted so much to spend the remaining days in Rome, the city that was the cradle of European civilisation, that was so rich of historical and architectural monuments, the city that was one of the symbols of Europe. The Italians we met often joked that Italy isn't a European country but I didn't believe them. I felt that I was right in the heart of Europe and didn't want to miss any single moment of it. And the best thing for not missing the real Europe was visiting Rome.

So we gathered all our courage and decided to go to Rome without booking a room. We left our appartment in the afternoon and the bus was to start early next morning. So for a night we had to stay in Perugia. One of our friends offered us to talk to her landlord and ask if we could stay at his house for a night.

Mattia was a real European-half French, half Italian. ''Listen, Mattia, we can pay you only 15 Euro'', we said sincerely. He looked at us as though we had gone mad. ''Have you gone mad?'', he wondered politely. When we confirmed we hadn't lost our common sense, he reluctantly agreed to host us for a night.

We had a wonderful day with our friends and Mattia. In the evening we prepared a supper and invited Mattia to join us. He was a little bizarre but very nice. A real European as I've already mentioned. He brought some of his friends with him and we spent the evening enjoying the meal a having a peaceful chat about the differences of Roman Catholic and Armenian Apostolic churches. For the first time during the whole month I felt myself at home. For not taking the risk of boring you to death I'll conclude by saying that we decided to stay in Perugia also the following day, and the following, and the following and if we still had a month I think we would have remained in Perugia for a month.

When at last we really had to leave we wanted to give the money for four days to Mattia. He looked at us as though we had gone mad. ''Have you gone mad?'', he inquired with interest. We didn't insist on his taking the money. We understood that he wouldn't.

''What a pity you didn't manage to see Rome properly'', said my grandmother when we were back in Armenia, ''it means you didn't see Europe''. I didn't tell her that Rome, European civilisation, European standards, architectural monuments were only a small part of Europe. I didn't tell her that instead of all these things we saw the real Europe-the people that lived there, the Europeans that were just like us only a little bit different. She wouldn't understand because she hadn't been there, she hadn't felt the warmth we felt that's why I didn't tell her that. I just smiled and nodded.