My Roman Holiday

Saluti da Roma! Greetings from Rome!
 It is evening of the first day of my holiday in the Eternal City, which thankfully happens to coincide with the mid-term break of the Spring Term. I am staying in the somewhat scruffy, but otherwise tourist-free area of Pigneto, having arranged accommodation via AirBnB with my wonderfully helpful hostess Paola. I also used AirBnB for my stay in Edinburgh and will definitely be using it again for other upcoming trips, which I will talk more about later.
 I've been quite busy since school resumed after New Year. Because I wasn't getting as much work as I wanted from Smart Teachers, I signed up with several other agencies during the Christmas break. Except for the first day of term and days which I've needed off, I have thankfully been able to get work every day. Some of those days have been at Special Needs settings which I found surprisingly rewarding, but it helped that I had support from other staff in every class. 
 In addition to my agency work, I am also hoping to get some additional income doing tuition for French and German. I am also looking to take up goal umpiring with the local Aussie rules league; apparently you can earn money for officiating in league matches, and should I enjoy it, I can continue doing goal umpiring when I get back to Melbourne.
 As most of you know, I'm only here for one year instead of two, and after returning to Melbourne I plan to settle down and find a house with Vanessa. With the further encouragement of my landlady, I am going to try and fit in as much travel as is financially possible. I have already booked a trip to Barcelona for 10 to 14 March, just before Vanessa arrives for Easter. Then on Easter Monday we are going on a 9-day round trip staying in Berlin, Rotterdam and Paris. I won't need to use AirBnB for that because we're going to be staying with friends and family in Berlin and Rotterdam, and have already booked hotel rooms in Paris. I'm planning to visit Ireland during the mid-term break of Summer Term at the end of May, and then after that it's the summer holiday, which even now I have to think ahead about to figure out what I want to see and do.
 I've already had a look at flights to Singapore in late August and am targeting a flight out from Milan on the 23rd. Once my paycheck comes in on Thursday I can double check the airfares before booking the flight. When that is done, I will book my flight to Melbourne a bit later, and will most likely fly with Emirates.
 Tomorrow I'll be visiting the Vatican, maybe I might catch a glimpse of His Holiness Pope Francis! Watch out for photos of my Roman adventure over the coming days with my red panda soft toy and travel companion Mimi.
 For now, cheers and God bless,