“Like all great travelers, I have seen more than I remember, and remember more than I have seen.” - Benjamin Disraeli

Assisi

Germany

Pompeii

All right so first let me talk to you about the Earthquake. It happened early on a Monday morning while I was sleeping, and I didn't even wake up. Amy was awake for it at 3 am, and she said she felt like she was going insane. She said it made no noise, and all of a sudden the whole room started waving back and forth like waves were going through the room. There was no noise except for the furniture sliding around above her. She was too scared to come wake us up because she thought she was crazy so she just laid there crying until the aftershock happened around 5 am. Caroline and I woke up for our nine am class Monday morning completely oblivious to the fact that anything had happened. It was an on-site class at the end of Via del Corso, the main street in Rome, and we thought it seemed strangely empty. We get to the meeting point and all the girls in our class are buzzing about the earthquake. They were shocked when they found out we didn't even wake up for it. Our friend Marie said all the pots and pans got thrown out of her cabinets at her apartment, and other girls said they ran outside because they were so scared. Our guy friends Rob Zack Dan and Emery also all ran outside, except Rob and Zack were naked they said. How embarrassing.

Over the next few days we still felt quite a few aftershocks. They were really quite frightening, especially one that was almost as strong as the original quake. It was Taco Tuesday and we were all sitting around eating and talking about the Earthquake. One girl said she still hadn't even felt an aftershock or anything and she wanted to know what one felt like. Suddenly the whole room started shaking like we were in a building made of jello. The mirrors were rattling loudly against the wall, the television was rocking violently back and forth on the T.V. stand and all our plates and cups were sliding all over the table. "This is what an aftershock feels like" Britt said. It lasted for close to 30 seconds and we almost ran outside because we didn't know if it was going to end. There were a few more small aftershocks over the next few days, and then things completely died down over Easter weekend.
For Easter I went to Buxtehude, Germany with my roommate Caroline. We went to visit her Grandma or "Omi" as she calls her (I am not sure if that is how you actually spell it so we will just pretend that is right.) I had a wonderful time! We flew out really early Friday morning to Munich, then flew from Munich to Hamburg. In Hamburg we went to a restaurant owned by the McGuckian's family friends. We enjoyed a delicious lunch and chatted with a boy our age who Caroline grew up with. He then showed us around the city for the rest of the day, then dropped us off at the train station were we hopped on a train to Buxtehude.
A cab took us to the cute little house tucked away next to a park. Caroline's Omi was sitting on the porch waiting for us to arrive. Her Omi doesn't speak any English, and I of course don't speak any German so it was hilarious. Most of the time if Caroline wasn't around, Omi and I would just look at each other and laugh because we didn't know what else to do. We hung around the house for the rest of the night. For dinner we had bread and slices of cheese. I wondered what kind of cheese it was and when Caroline asked her Omi what kind of cheese it is (who is 93 I think by the way) she just said "German Cheese." She is hilarious that woman. She got mad though when I folded my bread and cheese in half to make it into a sandwich. Apparently I wasn't supposed to do that. Woops!
The next day Caroline showed me around Buxtehude. It was so beautiful!! Germany is very clean and Aunt Liz would be happy to hear about how crazy they are about recycling! It looked like a typical little German town with quaint little buildings with thatched roofs. There was a little open air market down one of the main streets and I honestly felt like I was in some sort of fairy tale. Caroline and I had lunch at a department store and I discovered that I am in love with German food. I don't know how to spell any of it so I won't even try, but they have a lot of sausages and potatoes, all of which I loved. We then went and got ice-cream and I saw the cutest little child ever. He came running out of the building screaming something and he looked really excited. Caroline said he was yelling "I HAVE A CHOCOLATE I HAVE A CHOCOLATE" and he had chocolate alllllll over his face. He reminded me of a young Alex Wiegel.
SPEAKING OF WIEGEL I found Wiegel Electronics Store. How exciting! That night we had another meal of bread and cheese with Omi and watched German singing shows on television. They were hilarious! One song was a man and a woman singing "My Hawaii is the North Sea" in German. They were talking about how they have everything they need in Germany and they never needed to leave. I felt like the government put them up to singing that song or something. Creepy. The singing show lasted about ninety hours! It was funny at first but got old fast.
Then Sunday was Easter. Omi gave me and Caroline chocolate rabbits with bells on their necks! How cute. The Caroline, Omi and I went to a really nice restaurant on the outskirts of town and I had pork filled with ham- my two least favorite meats! But I loved it! And we had French Fries, but Omi tried to eat all of them. That day Omi didn't like that I wore sandals. I can do nothing right in her eyes. She likes my hair though. That night we watched "Chocolate" on television in German, and ate chips and ice cream. It was the perfect Easter. Also! That night! Omi was having bread and cheese and she folded it in half like a sandwich! I thought it was funny how she got mad when I did it the first night, but then she did it herself! She wants to be just like me, I know it.
A few more thoughts about Germany: The weather was perfect the entire weekend. All the flowers were in bloom and it was so peaceful. What a beautiful country! Also, my favorite part about all of Germany is the pillows! They are huuumungous and square. And fluffy! I am determined to find a German pillow when I return to the states, and I recommend you all do the same!
The week after Germany my parents arrived in Italy! When I found my mom and dad on the Spanish steps I started crying- I didn't realize how much I missed them! We walked around and got gelato, and then I had a great dinner with them and their tour group that night. They then went around the rest of Italy for a few days. I met them in Florence one day but I only saw them for a very brief time.
That Saturday I went to Assisi- I don't have much to say about it except that it is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. I am going to retire there someday. It was a school trip and they gave us a great tour around the whole city. Ugh I just love it.
The next week Mom and Dad came back to Rome and I spent all their free time with them. The first night they got back I joined them on their group's farewell dinner. It was at a beautiful Villa up on a hill in the center of the city. It was overlooking everything and the city sparkled against the clear night sky. The food was delicious, but the entertainer man was creepy. I had fried cream for the first time- good thing I discovered so late! I would be an elephant if I had found out about it any sooner. SOoooooo delicious. The rest of the week we just wandered around the city and saw many lovely things. It all sort of blurs together, the same way Pat's visit did just because it was so busy.
One day I remember Mom made me go into Dolce and Gabbana and I fell in LOVE with a three zipper tan purse called the "Lily Bag." Unfortunately it was 695 euro- I looked it up on Nordstrom’s and it costs $1,400 at home. A bit out of my price range. I dream about it every night. I was very sad the day they left BUT I knew I only had two weeks left until I would see them again!

I also went to Pompeii at one point- I am not sure when. I know there are a ton of things I never got a chance to add in my journal! I also forgot to mention in my journal on England that I saw the musical Chicago one night with Caroline and Amy. On our way there we discovered that we could have gotten tickets to a play starring JAMES MACAVOY instead- ugh if only we had known! But Chicago was a wonderful show. Anyway!!! Pompeii was great! There was a cute little stray German shepherd. There was also a brothel with pictures on the wall that a man would just point to to show what he wanted. It was like a menu with pictures. And there was a penis carved in the road to point people in the right direction to the brothel. And I saw burned people. That is all I remember.

I am now approaching my last weekend here and I am so so sad. It has been such an amazing experience and I definitely got a lot out of it. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity and I am so glad this is something I got to do so early in life! I gained a lot of knowledge not just about all the art I saw, but about life in general. I know so much about a culture that was so foreign to me before I arrived. I always think how cool it is that no matter where I am in the world, I will always know my way around Rome. How many people can say that?
I am not sure if I will write any more entries after this. If I don't, thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed my lengthy entries! And I apologize for the infrequency of my entries- it has been a busy semester! See you all soon!

“Not all those who wander are lost.” - J. R. R. Tolkien

Our last stop on our whirlwind spring break trip was my favorite city on Earth, Paris, France. Bright and early on Thursday morning we said cheerio to Johnny, who squealed back at us and wished us luck in Paris. We scooted to the airport and hopped on our plane. When we arrived in Paris we hopped on a bus to our hotel and stared in wonder at all the lovely sites we passed on the way to the Opera Garnier (where the Phantom of the Opera was supposed to have taken place). From there our hotel was supposed to be walking distance. Unfortunately, the street it was located on was not on our map. We wandered forever and ended up eventually hopping in a cab. We are sooo stupid because the cab driver completely took us for a ride, literally. We had been five feet from the entrance to the street our hotel was located on, but the driver drove around for about ten minutes and dropped us off in nearly the same spot, for seven euro. Woops.
The Hotel Corona Opera was very impressive, though not quite as lovely as the Grand Canal Hotel, of course. We took a quick rest and freshened up, then went out for a tasty dinner. We ate at a restaurant right down the street and then went to our new favorite pub on earth, O’Sullivans, a five minute walk from the hotel. That night a live band was playing and they were SO good. They played some of my favorite songs- System of a Down, Pink Floyd, and, best of all, they did a cover of Kings of Leon “Sex on Fire.” Amy fell in love with the lead singer and stood drooling in front of him the entire night. We had an awesome time and met some great people, then returned to our humble abode for a good night’s sleep.
The next morning we were reading for some sight-seeing! Our first stop was the Louvre, where we spent the entire morning. We saw my favorite sculpture of all-time, the Nike of Samothrace. It was stunning as ever. The Mona Lisa was as unimpressive as ever- no bigger than a postage stamp. After the Louvre we had a tasty lunch and sat on the grass in the Touleries Gardens.
We next went on a BUS TOUR of course. This was my least favorite of the three bus tours we did, but it was still enjoyable. We saw all of Paris’ sites, including L’Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame and the Eiffel Tower. We got off at Notre Dame and went to Shakespeare and Company, my favorite book store. The store was opened by Sylvia Beach, who always opened her doors to writers such as F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, James Joyce, and other famous writers of her time when they were in need of shelter.
That night we went out for another delicious dinner that night on the Champs Elysees. On our way there we were walking by the Galeries Lafayette, a huge department store behind the Opera, when I notice a small Asian woman walking next to me staring at us. She was smiling and saying in a French accent “Bad girls. Bad girls. Look at the bad girls. Bad girls.” Caroline and Amy noticed too and we hurried away from her. We had no idea why she was saying that to us. A little while later we were getting into the cab and she suddenly walks by again and goes “Ooo! Zer are zee bad girls! Bad girls!” We got in the cab and sped off, laughing hysterically. That night we ended up at O’Sullivans again. Though there was no band this night, we had yet another wonderful time and met some fascinating people. I headed back to the hotel before the other two girls and got a great night’s sleep.
The next day it was back on the bus to see more sites. We did not get off until we reached the Musee D’Orsay, my number one all-time favorite museum in the universe. Here we saw breathtaking paintings from artists such as Monet, Manet, Renoir, Van Gogh, Degas, Whistler, Caillebotte, and many more. After this the girls went into L’Orangerie while I sat outside in the sun and people-watched. I had seen this museum during my last visit to Paris and didn’t feel the need to go in again. This museum was built specially for Monet’s Water Lilly paintings.
After the museums we walked all the way to Montmartre and climbed all the way up to Sacre Coeur before the sun set. It was crowded with people drinking, talking, resting, and playing music. The view from the top is absolutely incredible. It is my favorite place in Paris besides the D’Orsay, and I was so glad I got to bring the girls there.
That night we went to see the Eiffel Tower light up and sparkle at night. It was a wonderful site, and something I did not get to see during my last visit. We then went out for our final quiet dinner in Paris. After that we went to find a different Irish Pub we had heard of called Kitty O’Shea’s. After searching for a little while with no success we ended up returning to O’Sullivans, the staple of our trip. That night there was a great DJ named Rudy who LOVED Amy. We hung by him the whole night requesting songs and chatting with Rudy. It was an excellent way to end the perfect spring break. We went to bed that night with smiles on our faces.
Overall this trip was exhausting, but well worth all the trouble. We saw some amazing places that I may never have been able to visit otherwise; we ate foods both good and bad, had pleasant surprises and slight disappointments, and overall gained some rewarding life experiences. I loved travelling with Amy and Caroline, and will surely be telling stories from our trip for years to come. Thanks to my wonderful parents, I was able to make the most out of my time in Europe. I hope to do it all again someday, and you should too!

“For my part, I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move.” - Robert Louis Stevenson

Sorry for the long delay. Let me tell you about LONDON!
We left Dublin mid afternoon on Monday, and took a quick flight over to London. From the Airport we took a train to Westminster, where we wandered around aimlessly looking for our hotel. The people of London were not quite as friendly as those in Dublin, but it didn't matter because they had great accents. We eventually found our quaint little hotel, The Westminster House Hotel, down a lovely little road. We entered the front door and were greeted by one of the strangest men I have ever encountered. His name was Johnny, and he is one of the owners of the little hotel. He looked normal enough, with brown hair, average build, and a friendly face, dressed in a nice suit. What made Johnny unique was his voice. When he first started to speak his voice was at a normal octave, but as his sentence went on it increased an octave with each word until he was literally squealing instead of speaking real words. At first I was really thrown off and frightened, but after a while it just seemed funny and I was struggling to hold back my laughter.
Johnny brought us down to a little study in the basement where he had a fire blazing in the fireplace and books scattered about the room. He squealed to us a bit about the hotel's amenities and told us our two friends, Alyssa and Alexa, had not checked in yet. We all happened to be going to London the same days and decided to stay in the same hotel!
Johnnyasked if we would need help with our bags and we said no- a decision we would later regret. We had to lug our heavy suitcases up ninety-million flights of steep stairs. My arms were nearly severed from my body by the time we reached our room. At first glance it looked nice enough, but soon we realized everything was covered by a fine black powder. This hotel did not even COMPARE to the Grand Canal Hotel in Dublin. It was a shame we had to stay there first because it set our standards very high. Caroline and Amy reported the disgusting mess to Johnny before we left. He squealed that it must be left over from the artist who stayed there before us. What does that mean? Do they not clean the rooms between guests? It was strange, but it didn't matter because when we got back later that night everything was sparkling clean thanks to Johnny Boy.
We wandered around London for the evening; saw Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, and Portsmouth Abbey, all of which were very close to our hotel. We ate dinner at a strange little Pub with gross food, and then went back to the hotel. We briefly chatted with Alyssa and Alexa, and then we all passed out for the night.
We were woken up bright and early the next morning by a knock on our door. Alexa and Alyssa did not change their clocks when they arrived in London after going to Amsterdam, and they were an hour ahead. So, unfortunately for them, they had to hang around for a while and wait for us to get ready to go. We went out for a delicoius breakfast at a little organic tea shop down the road from our hotel. I got superb oatmeal with fresh sliced fruits like kiwi, peaches, pears, etc.
We then went out sightseeing for the day. We saw EVERYTHING. We started at Buckingham Palace and saw the changing of the gaurds. After that we found the Original Bus Tour of London, and bought tickets since we love the bus tours. We saw all the sights London has to offer- from Parliament to the London Bridge. We even saw where the interior scenes of Gringotts Bank were filmed for Harry Potter! We saw Fleet Street where the legendary Sweeney Todd sliced and diced the customers at his barber shop.
We all were in the mood for a good scaring, so we got off and took a tour of the London Dungeons. These weren’t actually real dungeons- it was a sort of fun house where there were tons of actors in costumes who scare us as we walk through. It also gave us a history of the gruesome London past from Sweeney Todd to Jack the Ripper. There were also two scary rides inside. It took us a total of three hours to make it the whole way through! Totally worth it.
Also on our first day there, Caroline, Alexa and I got hair cut. We thought London would be the ideal place to do this since they speak English so we wouldn’t risk ending up looking like Mr. Clean or Boy George or something because of a language barrier. I actually ended up getting a pretty drastic hair cut of short, choppy layers. The hair dresser didn’t like how thick my hair was so she thinned it out a lot and I really like it.
That night was St. Patrick’s Day. We went to a wonderful Mexican restaurant in Piccadilly Circus and I got my beloved Tacos for dinner. I did not speak for ten minutes while I INHALED the tacos and licked the sour cream dish clean. God I miss Mexican food. After that we wandered around looking for an Irish Pub. All the ones we had wanted to go to had lines out the door, so we ended up squeezing into a little tiny pub in some obscure place. We all got ciders after a lot of stress and waiting, and ended up leaving after just one drink. The place was over-crowded and rather boring. We had seen some great Pubs closer to our hotel and decided to head back and try those only to find that they were all closed!
So, we went to bed.
Perhaps the most disappointing St. Patty’s day I will ever encounter.
It worked out fine anyway because we woke up the next morning feeling refreshed, not hung over, and ready for another day of sightseeing in London.
We toured the Victoria and Albert Museum which was really cool. The last major thing we did in London was shopping at Herod’s, where we saw Kim Cattrall from Sex in the City. We finished off the night with a tasty dinner, and then headed off to bed early since the night life in London was disappointing. Plus we had to wake up early the next morning for Paris, the city of Love.
Overall, I ended up falling head over heals in love with London. It is somewhere I had been talking about visiting for as long as I can remember, and it did not disappoint. I will certainly be returning there sometime in the near future.
To be continued.,.,.,.,.,.

"Once you have traveled, the voyage never ends, but is played out over and over again in the quiestest chambers." -Pat Conroy

Hello all. Let me tell you about the first leg of my spring break- Dublin, Ireland. I went to Dublin, London and Paris, but I have decided to do a separate entry for each one since I have SO much to say.
Here we go!
Saturday afternoon after leaving dear Patrick at Fiumicino, I met Caroline and Amy at Ciampino airport- the smaller airport in Rome. From there we hopped on our Ryan Air flight and took off for Dublin. The flight took no time at all. Despite not being able to hear at all after landing because of pressure in our ears, we were all smiles as soon as our feet touched the Irish ground. We had no problem finding our bags and getting our passports stamped since all the signs were in English! (what a treat!!!!!!!) We went to the information desk and asked the man the best way to get to our hotel. He sold us tickets for a bus to take and told us what stop to get off at, and was soooo nice with an awesome accent of course. I loved sitting on the bus looking out the window at all the beautiful Dublin sites. It was like a little dream land full of beautiful houses and apartments, each with unique and intricate doorways. We got off at our bus stop and as soon as we did we encountered our first wonderful Dubliner. A man walked right up to us, his guitar in hand, and asked if he could help point us in the right direction. He looked at our map, showed us where to go, and wished us luck. We started off in the direction he pointed us, suitcases in tow, and got lost after about three minutes of walking. We pulled out our map and were trying to figure out where to go next when another friendly Dubliner approached us and offered his help. He pointed us back in the right direction and we started off again. After another few turns we were lost again at an intersesction, and pulled out the map. As we were looking at it a car across the intersection rolled down its windows and a young Irish couple called to us to see if they could point us in the right direction. They weren’t sure where our hotel was but showed us where they thought it might be. Could people get any nicer???
Yes, they could.
A few minutes later, surprise surprise, we were lost again. This time the cutest (and most homosexual) little irish man in the world came up to help us. He said he was going right by our hotel and to follow him. Unfortunately he was thinking of the wrong place, so when we got there he felt so bad for leading us in the wrong direction. He told us to stay put and ran all over the place trying to get us directions. A little while later he came jogging back with a huge smile saying he knew exactly where it was and that he was going to walk us there!! Along the way he told us we should go out to a gay club that night and told us where to find it. We feigned interest... it was very nice of him. After a little while we got to a place where we would have to go through a small alley to get near the hotel. We got a wee bit nervous and he said “Don’t worry girls you can trust me- I’m as bent as a horseshoe.” HA! Sure enough it let us right to the door of our hotel. We thanked him and he bid us farewell. We walked into the lobby of the hotel and started freaking out. It was soooooooooooooo nice! Everyone else on spring break was roughing it in hostels getting lice and bed bugs, and we had just walked into an Irish paradise. We got the key to our room from a very friendly man and wandered the halls until we found our door. We opened it up and there before our eyes was the most perfect hotel room three little girls could ever find. Three fluffy twin beds awaited us, lined up against the bright red wall. A large plasma t.v. was on and said “Welcome Jillian.” The bathroom was huge and beautiful and clean and everything about this place was perfect.
We were itching to explore Dublin but starving, so we quickly changed and freshened up then headed down to the lobby. There was an adorable pub attached to our hotel and we decided to be lazy and just give that a try. We looked at the menu and almost died. It was a huge variety of sandwiches, burgers, fires, and onion rings- things we see VERY little of in Italy. I ordered a BLT and a side of onion rings- even though my sandwich came with fries. We got delicious Bulmer’s cider with our meals and were in heaven on Earth. When the waitress brought out our food Amy started freaking out and said “you don’t even know how much of an angel you are to us right now we have had nothing but pasta and pizza for two months!” She looked at us like we were crazy and left us alone. No one spoke as we inhaled our food.
With full bellies and pleasant moods we set off to find a place to drink and mingle for the night. Unfortunately our good day had to come to an end somewhere. In Rome we are never carded for anything ever, so we never bring our I.Ds out with us. In Dublin it is a whole other story. This we did not realize. First of all they card you everywhere. Second of all, the place where we went to drink ended up not letting in anyone under twenty-three, even though the drinking age is 18. After wandering around for ages trying to find somewhere that would let us in, we gave up. We were absolutely exhausted from traveling, and knew there were huge comfy beds waiting for us at the Grand Canal Hotel. I slept like a baby that night for the first time in a long time.
We woke up at the crack of dawn un Sunday ready for a day full of wonder and adventure. Our first stop- Starbucks. Italy is probably the only country on Earth without any sort of Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts. I got a delicious peach and mango smoothie for breakfast, and the girls both got coffees. After that we set off to see some sites. We ran into a guy who was selling tickets for a bus tour. At first we said no, no, no we don’t want to give you our money. Then after a minute we realized it took us everywhere we wanted to go, and we could hop on and off whenever we wanted. Plus it was not expensive. We bought our tickets on hopped on the fun bus. The driver/tour guide was HILLARIOUS, as were the guides on all the busses. They tell wonderful jokes AND are very informative. We saw all the sites, from St. Patricks Cathedral to Trinity College. The first stop we jumped off at was, of course, the Guinness factory.
What an adventure! After exploring the entire place you end up on the top floor where you are rewarded with a free beer. Let me tell you, we were rewarded with much more than that! When we first arrived on the top floor we noticed a camera man floating around, but thought nothing of it. UNTIL! We were sitting on a bench next to the elevator, which the camera man is filming all of a sudden. Then, out of no where, guess who walks out???

Al Roker!!!!!
Yea! I know! What is he doing in Dublin? We don’t know! But still! The three of us stood up, our eyes bulging out of our heads- WHAT? AL ROKER? No one else in the place reacted. Clearly we were the only Americans. Some woman saw us flipping out and came up and said “Hi, I am Al Roker’s guide while he is in Ireland- would you like a picture with him?”
Um YES PLEASE. She waited until he was done filming then brought us right up to him. He didn’t even say hi or anything he just sort of wandered around with a huge cheesy smile and he looked like he was on drugs. We took the picture with him and he said “Thank you” with his huge grin and then literally disappeared. I took my eyes off of him for point three seconds and he was GONE! Magic man.
Anyway that was clearly the highlight of my stay in Dublin. That night the three of us went out for a lovely dinner at a genuine Irish pub. It was sort of buffet style- really strange. I pretty much had thanksgiving dinner that night. Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry jelly, green beans, gravy. What more could a girl ask for? Oh yea, cider. THEN there was a live traditional Irish band playing upstairs. We sat up there for a while drinking more ciders loving the music and loving life. After that we headed next door to a different pub. We walked in the door and were greeted by a whole football team (aka soccer) They were very interesting gents. They weren’t from Dublin they were from outside the city so there accents were thick and at times hard to understand. Though they were drunk and belligerent, they were as friendly as all the other lovely Irish folks we had met. The girls went with them to another pub after that one closed, but I hopped in a cab and headed back to my dream bed at the Grand Canal Hotel. I fell asleep to Leonardo Dicaprio, Mark Wahlberg, and Matt Damon in The Departed. (television in ENGLISH!)
The next morning we woke up with heavy hearts. It was time to leave Dublin. After only two days I had fallen head over heels in love with that city. I will go back some day without a doubt. And stay at the Grand Canal Hotel without a doubt.
As sad as we were, nothing could calm our excitement for our next stop…LONDON!!!!
…to be continued…

"Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter." -- Izaak Walton

Hello! It has been so long. So much has happened! I have been very busy the past few weeks first with Pat visiting, and then with spring break! I will tell you all about them.
I don't really know what to say about Pat's visit accept that it was lovely. I went to meet him at the airport early morning on Saturday, March 7th. I looked at the arrivals screen and it said his flight hadn't arrived yet, so I stood staring at the screen for about forty minutes. After a while, two really creepy guys came and stood right behind me- so close that I could feel them against my back and it was completely unnecessary- there was plenty of room for everyone. There were a few people standing next to me who were waiting for the same plane to arrive, so I decided to go sit in a chair a great distance away from the creepy guys and wait for the two other people to walk away once the plane had landed. Unfortunately, the two creepy guys followed me over to my far away chair and sat right next to me. I was sitting there contemplating my next move when someone walked up right in front of me and stopped. I looked up and it took me a minute before I realized who I was staring at- it was Pat! Apparently the screen was misinformed and his plane had landed after all!
I gave him a big big hug and whisked him away to catch the train to Roma. Despite his long flight, he said he wasn't tired, so after we dropped his bags off at my apartment we decided to go wander around the city until he could check into his hotel. We went and saw the Trevi Fountain and got some pizza for lunch, and then wandered around Via del Corso.
Pat started to act funny because apparently he was far more tired than he realized. We had been walking straight down Via del Corso for about a half hour and for some reason he thought we had taken a bunch of turns down different streets and he was lost. That’s when I realized he should definitely take a nap before we did any more sight-seeing or he might not remember it.
We walked all the way back to Piazza Venezia and got on the forty-four bus to my apartment. We were lucky enough to get seats. I had a window seat so I was staring out the window for a while. When I turned back I saw Pat rocking backwards and forwards. For a minute I was wondering what the heck he was doing, when suddenly I realized- as his head took a fast dive towards the seat in front of him- he was sound asleep. I grabbed his arm and he woke up just before bashing his face into the chair and woman in front of him. He had on sunglasses so I had had no idea his eyes were closed. I thought he was doing some sort of weird dance to embarrass me in public- something he does often. He fell asleep a good four or five more times on the ride home. He took a little nap at my apartment until it was time for him to check in to his hotel. We checked him in, dropped off his bags, then went out for a lovely dinner and some more sight-seeing.
Sunday I met Pat at the crack of dawn to go to the open-air market. It was a beautiful sunny day and we didn't even need to wear coats. At 12:30 we went to La Fate, a cute little hole-in-the-wall restaurant owned by a local family. I had signed us up for a cooking lesson with Andrea, the nicest guy ever who is the son of the couple who owns the restaurant, as well as the restaurant’s cook. These cooking classes were my gift to Pat for our one year anniversary, which is this coming Monday, the 30th of March.
The cooking class was a blast, though also very tiring! For the appetizer we made crostini with mushroom patè. I don't even like mushrooms but this tasted soooo good. Our first course was Ravioli filled with pumpkin and ricotta splashed in a fresh pumpkin sauce. My roommates Britt and Alyssa had already taken a cooking class with Andrea the week before and told him about how much I love butternut squash ravioli. Andrea said butternut squash was not in season here, but pumpkin was the next best thing. It was an amaaaaaazing dish. It turns out making pasta isn’t all that difficult. I’m sure I will be whipping up new kinds of ravioli all the time now!
For a side dish we made a tortino of leeks and eggplants which is basically like a little cake made out of vegetables. Delish. For dessert we made Millefoglie with cookies. It was layers of a sort of pudding or custard with nuts and chocolate and little cookies sticking out of it, inside of a martini glass.
It was a long day of cooking, needless to say, but in the end it was awesome to sit down and enjoy all the delicious food that we made! Andrea was a wonderful teacher and a lot of fun.
Monday I did not get to see a lot of Pat because I had classes from nine to five L. I had a midterm first thing in the morning too. Tuesday Pat came with me to all my classes. In the morning he came to Baroque Sculpture with me where we went to the Vatican for three hours. It was a lot of information to take in at once. In the afternoon I had a three hour film class where we watched the end of a movie called “The Best Years of Our Lives.” I think that is what it was called. Anyway it was a wonderful movie and I highly recommend it. That night we had a lovely dinner somewhere- all the days kind of blur together. Then I had to study for my midterm on Wednesday. That only took me about a half hour to take, so Pat met me after class and we went to do some sightseeing. I really can’t remember what we did that day. I know that at some point during the week we saw the Spanish steps at night and had dinner there, we went to the Vatican Museum and saw the Sistine Chapel and all that fancy stuff, we walked down Via del Corso and did some shopping for his family, and on Thursday night we went out drinking with my roommates somewhere.
Overall it was an awesome week. It was so great to see Pat even though it was for such a short time. Though I am loving it here in Rome, I am really looking forward to returning home in six weeks. The time is going to go by so fast and it will be hard to leave, but I miss my family and Pat, and little Daisy! I went with Pat to Fiumicino airport on Saturday morning to say goodbye. I had to leave him and get in a cab to go to Ciampino airport to take off for spring break, and I sobbed the whole way there. The cab driver was very nice and he kept handing me tissues and tried to comfort me even though he had no idea what was wrong and he didn’t speak any English. He kept saying “basta, basta” which means “enough!” I think he was glad to get rid of me.
That is all for now because I need a break from typing, but in my next entry I will tell you all about my awesome spring break. Ciao!

Sure I know a Baggins! Frodo Baggins- he's my second cousin once removed on his mother's side.

It has been a very long time since I last updated! I have done a lot, but it has mostly been for school, so it isn't really worth reporting.
I will tell you about what Caroline and I did this weekend. Friday we had a school trip to a town called Frascati, just outside of Rome. We woke up bright and early Friday morning and got on the bus provided by the school, then set off on our journey to the quaint little mountain top town.
When we arrived at our destination it was freezing cold, and there wasn't really that much to do. There were beautiful churches, and little stores filled with useless things.
As Caroline and I wandered down one little street, the faint twinkling of some hobbit-like music greeted our ears. We followed the sound until we came upon a little doorway that was opened to reveal an indoor cave! It wasn't a real cave, it was just decorated that way. Inside the cave were millions of little figurines of fairies and gnomes. Caroline and I turned to look at each other, and without exchanging any words, stepped into the little shop. Because who in their right mind wouldn't go in a gnome shop?
I was in gnome heaven. Hundreds upon hundreds of gnomes lined the walls, along with fairies, ogres, and a variety of other creatures. Those of you who know me well know that I love gnomes, so obviously I bought one. He is a little man holding a swan sitting on a toad stool. I named him Frascati, after the town we were visiting.
After "roman" around for a bit (haha) we met up with the rest of the group and the two ladies who were running the trip. They took us down a little street to an outdoor butcher's stand where you pick the meat, cheese, olives, bread, and whatever else you want and they put it all together for you. It was quite an experience watching the man hack apart a pig carcass and throw slabs of meat on a piece of bread for me. There were millions of different types of cheese to choose from, and I have no idea what kind I picked. The big sweaty men who worked behind the counter handled all the cash with their hands, and then put their hands all over the hunks of meat without even washing them. You should all be so proud of me for eating my sandwich!! (and surviving!)
We then took our lunches down to a local cantina where we ordered wine that was brewed right there where we sat! The town of Frascati is known for its white wine. It was a little bitter for my taste, but a wonderful experience nonetheless.
After our delicious lunch we all went back to the bus which took us to some fashion outlets about an hour outside of Rome. Not much worth reporting there. I bought some cool boots, a skirt and a bag.
This week I had some great trips in my art classes- we went to Saint Peter's on Monday and I got to see Michelangelo’s Pieta. It was an amazing thing to be face to face with a work of art I have learned about time and time again in school. It was much smaller than I had imagined, and unfortunately was behind a thick layer of bullet-proof glass. Our teacher, who doesn't speak English very well, explained this is because someone had once thrown a hammer at it in protest and broke off some of the statue's "foot fingers." No one else in the class seemed to find that as funny as I did.
On Tuesday my friend Rachel and I were the only ones to show up to our Baroque Sculpture class. It made us look really good that we were the only ones, plus I adore that teacher and it was great to be able to have a class with such a small group. We went to two churches. The first church had an amazing Bernini sculpture in it. The second church we went to because of its Baroque style sculptures, but while we were there Dr. Barker mentioned that Jesus' crib from the day he was born was kept in this church. What? How is that possible? I didn't get to see it because they had just closed that part of the Church off for the day but I am DEFINTALEY going back there. I need to feast my eyes on this thing myself. Can wood last that long? I doubt it.
Also, an interesting fact about Dr. Barker that will help you to appreciate her as much as I do is this: She commutes to Rome every day all the way from Florence! For a 9 a.m. class! She is the most dedicated and passionate art historian I have ever met. I want to be her some day.

Also on Tuesday, I waited in line for three hours to get my permit to stay in Italy. I can only pray that I will never have to wait in a line that long again.

Anyway, that is all. Hopefully I will have more to report soon!

Bella regazza

Ciao everyone! It has been a very long time. I will give you some highlights of my life up to today.
It was a normal boring week of classes. We watched some really good silent films in my american cinema class including a charlie chaplain film and one called "Amerilie Of Clothes Line Alley" that was really funny. Oh we also watched one called "It" that was histerical. Also, one day, I thought I didn't have class until 2, but at 12:10 I realized my history class was at 12:30. I ran full speed to the bus stop with my hair still dripping wet and stood there watching my watch trying to figure out how late I would be after the 15 minute bus ride.
I look to my left and much to my delight, my history professor was standing right next to me smoking a cigarette and reading the paper! I did a double take because I didn't realize it was her at first and then I said "Professor Rosenthal- arn't we supposed to be in class in ten minutes?" She looks at me and coughs and says (with her Italian accent) "Yea. I am so dreading class. I drank way to much I am extremely hung over. Look at my eyes!" She lifts up her sunglasses and there are big dark circles under her eyes. She starts talking about how she went out with her college friends the night before and got wasted and overslept this morning. She also complained because the newspaper that she writes for changed her article without telling her. Then she started complaining because she had to leave for jerusalem the next day and she had forgotten about it so she had to cancel class for monday. She sat next to me on the bus and kept telling me all these fascinating things, and she kept swearing at me! She said "oh my goodness I am so tired" and I said "me too I can't wait to go home and take a nap after this." Then she goes "Fuck you! I still have two meetings after this class!" That is the first time a college professor has ever said that to me. I adore her.
We got to school at 12:35 (class started at 12:30) and she said "I am going to go get a coffee and write up the notes for today. Tell everyone I am coming" She didn't show up to class until 12:50, and she wore her sunglasses the whole time.
Other than that my week was uneventful, until thursday. It was our friend Emery's birthday, so we went to the boys house and cooked dinner for them. We made a chicken stir fry, some garlic bread with mozzerella melted on it, and rice. It was delicious.
After dinner we all went out seperate ways only to be reunited at 5 am at our apartment for two cabs to pick up all ten of us (Me, Caroline, Amy, Alexa, Alyssa, Britt, Emery, Zack, Rob and Dan) to take us to the airport! We were off to Trapani, Sicily for the weekend. The flight took only about 40 minutes. We landed to find beautiful, warm, sunny weather as we stood and waited for the bus. The bus took us to a quaint little seaside city that was almost deserted (since it is the off season.) After wondering around trying to find our bed and breakfast forever, we stopped to ask some police officers who were driving by. They were so so nice and the driver spoke very good English. They took Amy's phone and called Antonio, the man who owns the bed and breakfast we were staying at. They spoke on the phone for a while until eventually they picked out a spot for us to meet Antonio so he could lead us to the right place.
We found Antonio, a short little older man carrying a brown leather man purse, and he lead us down windy little alley ways to our home for the weekend. It was perfect. On one side was a kitchen, two bedrooms, and two bathrooms. Three girls stayed in each room. On the other side of the building was an apartment with a kitchen, a pull-out couch, a fold-out ottoman (that made a twin bed) and a double bed with one bathroom where the four boys stayed. There was a door seperating our two apartments, and there was no one else in the building. Even though it was called a bed and breakfast, there was never any breakfast.
All of us were exhausted so we took a brief nap before heading out to explore the beautiful city. I am going to add a slideshow to this entry to show all the pictures because there are sooooooo many beautiful things to show you! Unfortunately, the pictures do not do Trapani any justice.
The boys, who are more girly than the six of us girls combined, went out shopping for the day. We waited around for them forever to go to dinner because none of them were answering their phones. When they finally came back they had millions of shopping bags and were sooo excited about their purchases. Rob and Zack, the two guidos, had both bought shiny silver sneakers. They had all bought pretty flowy scarves and stylish t-shirts. I really think they are all girls trapped in a boy's body. The boys then all took lengthy showers, styled their hair with gels, mousse, and sprays, smothered themselves in cologne, tried on ninety different outfits, and put on their pretty new shoes until f i n a l l y they were ready.
We all headed out to a pizza place they had found, and it was soooooo delicious. I got a Romana pizza which was mozzerella, tomato, and prosciutto. To die for. After that, we wandered around the empty city trying to figure out what the people of Trapani do for fun on a Friday night. We eventually came across a man who told us a new pub/disco had opened up and told us how to get there. It was called Prima Classe, and we could hear the music bumping from a mile away. When we got to the door it was just Amy, Caroline and me, and the four boys. There was a list to get in, and they said there was no way we could go in. Suddenly it dawned on Amy that if they knew there were more girls than boys they would let us in. She flashed them a big pretty smile and said "Bella regazza- six!" and called the other girls over. Bella regazza means beautiful girls, and whenver people call us that they give us free things. Amy is a genious. The men all smiled and said "Ooooh bella regazza!" and let all ten of us in.
It was an interesting place. It was dark and everything was painted red and black. The DJ played sort of techno jazz music and everyone was very stylish. We did not stay long because we had a long day ahead of us on Saturday.
Saturday we all, slowly but surely, got out of bed at 7 am. Britt, Alyssa and Alexa had met two guys the day before, Sebastian and Dominico, who were the captains on a ferry that takes people back and forth from Trapani to the island Favignana. They told them all about the great things to do on the island and told us to come take the ferry at 8 am the next day.
We ran to the docks and found Sebastian and Dominico. The boys had to sit down in the regular seats, but the six girls got to go sit up with the captain at the very top of the boat. We sat on a little couch and they offered us coffee and told us all about their families. It was such a fun boat ride and it went by so fast. We arrived on the Island and the boat left, and we realized this island was even more deserted than Trapani was. All the shops were closed, and it was freezing cold and rainy. We were trying to find a place where we could rent scooters, but they were all boarded up. Then the girls talked to some guy who found a scooter shop owner for us, who opened up his shop and let us rent some scooters! We rented five total- three for the girls, and only two boys wanted them. The girls all doubled up on scooters- me and Caroline, Amy and Britt, and Alyssa and Alexa.
We all looked ridiculous wearing ponchos and helmets. The boys took off and disappeared, and the six of us slooooooooowly drove off to see what we could find. I don't even know how to describe the sites we saw next. We drove towards these huge, beautiful mountains, then went under them through a long windy tunnel, and came out on the other side with breathtaking views of the ocean, farms, fields, and animals. It was a once in a lifetime experience, and we never wanted it to end. The pictures just do not do any justice to what we saw.
After riding around for a few hours we started coming up towards a tall, beautiful lighthouse. As we got close we realized it was a military base and there were signs warning us not to go near it. Just then, Amy and Britt got a flat tire. Also at the same time, the wind picked up, the temperature dropped, and it started to pour. We called the scooter guys to see if they could come fix the tire, but they wouldn't answer. Caroline and I hopped on our scooter and started the long journey back to town to see if we could find them.
They were no where to be seen. The town was completely empty- not a soul in sight. The wind was ridiculous and it was so cold, so caroline and I nestled down in a little tunnel to shelter us from the elements. We called the girls to tell them to hold tight and we'd see if we could find the boys. Lucky for them, the military guys had seen the four beautiful girls stranded outside their base, and, despite the fact that it was strictly forbidden, let them in. They made the girls coffee and played fooseball with them until they eventually got the scooter guys to come out and fix the flat tire.
We eventually all met up again, found the boys, and rushed to catch the two o'clock ferry back. We got on the wrong ferry- Sebastian and Dominico were not there. However when we got off the ferry there was a little man standing there calling for Britt. Sebastian had sent him to meet us when he found out we got on the wrong ferry. He wanted us to wait for him there until he got back from the ferry trip. Britt, Alyssa and Alexa waited, and the rest of us went back to nap. When they got back they said Sebastian and Dominico wanted all ten of us to meet them at eight and they would bring us all to a nice restaurant for a delicious dinner. Unfortunately, the boys were dying for chinese food, and we weren't going to go without them. We also overslept and missed eight o'clock anyway. So the six girls headed out to find some place to have dinner. We eventually found a hopping pizza place right on the ocean. There were tonnnnnns of people waiting to be seated, but as soon as the host saw us he whipped up a table and sat us before anyone else. Everyone there was staring at us and I think some people were probably pretty angry. We all ordered some more delicious pizza and the waiters kept coming over to talk to us and help us figure out a place where we could go drink and dance that night.
When we had all finished our pizza one waiter came up and said "We have a surprise for you!" A minute later they came out and gave us a delicious nutella dessert pizza. It was awesome because we were going to order one anyway, but instead we got one for free! We eventually asked for the check, but they didn't want us to leave so they brought us out a free bottle of champagne! We love Trapani. Hours later- probably around midnight- we finally left. On our way out the door the little old Italian waiters were sitting there saying "pleaaase! dont' goooo!" The waiters wanted us to meet them out at Prima Classe that night, but we had to wait and see what the boys wanted to do.
We ended up going to a little place down the street from us. During the day it is just a pastry shop, but at night there is a DJ who plays great music and people go to drink and dance. There were just a handfull of little highschool aged Italian boys there dancing. The ten of us walked in and the six girls sat and laughed histerically as the boys danced like fools. Some of the Italian men, especially this one guy in a purple sweater and one guy in a white sweater, were all over the boys trying to dance with them. It was the funniest thing ever.
The next day everything was closed and we just sat around playing games all day long until our 10 oclock flight that night. We were home by 11:30 that night.
Just to make this entry a little longer, let me tell you about what is going on right now. Last night all the girls went out (except me and Alexa) with the boys. At 3:30 am all the girls (accept Alyssa) and Rob came back here. They were hanging out in the living room when Alyssa and the other boys got here. However, when they went to unlock the door, it wouldn't unlock! In these apartments not only do you need a key to get in, but you need the key to get out- there is no doorknob. The key would NOT turn on either side of the door. They were stuck outside, and everyone else was stuck in the apartment. Alyssa ended up sleeping on the boys couch last night. When I woke up this morning for my nine oclock class, Caroline told me that we couldn't get out and that the fix-it guys were going to get here sometime after nine. We had to call our teacher and let her know that we were stuck in the apartment so we would be late for class. She thought it was hillarious and told us not to worry about it. It is now 11 oclock- our class goes from 9-12. The fix it guys had to completely tear apart our door. Caroline and I had to use a butter knife to unscrew all the screws on our side of the door, and they crashed the door down from the other side. They are still replacing it, and we can't leave until they do. This is my first time since freshman year of college to miss a class. However, this was obviously out of my hands. How the heck do you get locked INSIDE an apartment? What if there was a fire? Oh well. We survived.
Congratulations, you just finished reading the longest journal entry ever.

Giant Killer Squids

Everyone!!

Amy does NOT look thrilled to

be next to that creepy Italian man.

Me, Britt, Alexa and Caroline

me and the birthday girl!!!!!

Hello friends! It has been quite a while. This has been a very busy week. I started classes this week and besides western civ, I love all my classes. My favorites are probably going to be photography, film, and baroque sculpture. In photography we have this awesome teacher named Lorenzo Pesci (google him!) He is a professional photographer and showed us a ton of his stuff in fashion magazines and books and stuff. He is young and hip haha so he will be a great teacher. Our Baroque Sculpture teacher is a young girl who is sooooo passionate about art history. She gets really emotional and really takes her time to find the perfect words to describe a work of art. She is my only American teacher. In film we watched Birth of a Nation which was so racist but really an interesting film to see. It was a silent film by D.W. Griffith released in 1915. I think it was one of the first American motion pictures released.

We had dinner as a family ever night and I absolutely love the girls I am living with. We always end up sitting at the dinner table for hours having the most bizarre conversations. The most common topic of conversation revolved around giant killer squids, snake head fish, and sharks. I am now deathly afraid of the water.... more so than I allready was. I have more to fear than just sharks apparently.

Wednesday night the girls and I went to an apartment just down the street where these nice boys cooked us dinner. They are interesting fellows. Two of them are from new jersey and are extreme guidos. One is a wicked creep who is in looove with Alexa, one is in loooove with Britt, and one never comes out of his room. He just sits by himself and talks to his girlfriend on skype 24/7. I think it's cute. Then yesterday (thursday) was Caroline's birthday. The girls and I cooked a delicious dinner of pasta with alfredo sauce, chicken, and broccoli. Then we went out and met the boys at their apartment and all went out to an awesome bar somewhere. This place was so much better than art cafe in that there were tons of Americans (a bunch from AUR!) and there was room to move. Caroline had millions of Italian men after her the whole night and she had a very very happy start to her birthday.

Today we are going to go do some sight seeing and then go out again! I will update again soon :-)

p.s. more photos soon!

Parco Leonardo

So it has been a fairly uneventful couple of days. Yesterday I slept extremely late, as you know, and I never even left the apartment except to grocery shop so there isn't anything worth reporting.

Today the girls and I woke up bright and early and met outside the garden gates at our school with a whole ton of people for a school guided trip to the mall. They showed us how to get there using the bus, the tram, and the train. It was cheap and easy and the mall was HUGE! There were about 220 stores at the Parco Leonardo. It was an exhausting day but very successfull.

I bought a new coat at Zara that I looooooove. It is black with a very high collar and it buttons up the side. It is very Italian and very in style here. Britt picked it out for me and she said if she didn't allready have a million black coats she would have bought it for herself. She has great taste so I was overjoyed.

I also bought a new pair of shoes! They are black suede wedges with bows on the front. They are very chic and classy and will be perfect for going out. I won't get stuck in the cobblestones and my weight will be distributed evenly so hopefully my feet won't hurt as bad.

When I was leaving the shoe store there was an Italian girl walking out behind me and I heard a man speaking in Italian so I assumed he was speaking to her, but then someone grabbed my arm. I turned around and this HUGE black guy who looked really angry had stopped both me and this girl, who looked just as bewildered as I did. He was talking in Italian really fast and showed us his police badge. My face turned bright red and I looked over at Caroline who was clearly just as confused as I was. The man was pulling me back into the store speaking Italian really fast and I kept telling him "no parle italiano" which as far as we know means "i don't speak Italian" but we could be wrong because he ignored me and kept speaking. I couldn't figure out what I had done wrong and after a second he let the Italian girl leave. He brought me over to this other police officer and he started going through my shopping bag. He took out my receipt and stared at it for a very long time, which worried me because I only bought one thing. Then, after a little bit he just smiled and said "Gratzi!" (i'm not sure how to spell that.) He was very pleasant all of a sudden and just let me walk away. I was baffled and confused but relieved that it was no big deal. Italy is so strange.

So now I am back home after a long and tiring day. That is all to report for now. Classes start tomorrow, we will see how it goes!

P.S. since I didn't take any new pictures today or yesterday I will post some old ones that I didn't put up yet.

"Guys. I am not lying to you right now."

Above is the American University of Rome

Above on the lft in the back is Morgan and all the way on the right is Valorie

Greetings friends. I would like you all to know that I am officially in love with Rome. I still miss a lot of things about home and I wouldn't want to live here forever, but the next few months I think are going to be wonderful. Yesterday morning we woke up bright and early to go to our orientation. The man who lead the orientation was like a dad giving us the basic safety tips that we have all heard a million times. He also scared us to death telling us horror stories of things that have happened to students at the University when they weren't being careful.
After the meeting, some of the girls and I went to change our schedules, then ventured off past the university to see what we could find. We walked down a beautiful, narrow, winding cobblestone road with tall walls and gates on either side. The street was lined mainly with different embassies (is that the correct way to pluralize embassy?)
When we got to the end of the street we came upon this huge, beautiful fountain and a spectacular view of the entire city. We were all in tears because we were so happy to finally see parts of Rome we had only dreamed of seeing before. We took millions of pictures, and were really scared of two armed guards who were walking back and forth because we had been yelled at some earlier for taking pictures near the embassy they were protecting. However, these guards were really friendly and took pictures with us! The only english word they knew was "chewing gum" and asked us for some in payment for the pictures. It was hillarious.
Later on that night we had the walking tour of Rome, which was run by the school and showed us how to get to and from the center of Rome. We saw hundreds of ruins, the cat sanctuary, the tomb of the unkown soldier, and the colloseum!
One of the tour guides, David, who works for the school, is also a club promoter. He was the guy who met Caroline and I at the airport when we first arrived to show us where our apartments were. We wanted to go out last night so we asked him where we should go. He told us to go to Gilda, a club where he works, and he said he would put us on the VIP list and get us right in. He gave us his his number and a paper with the club name and address on it and told us to call him when we got there.
After the tour we went home and made a delicious dinner with pasta (of course) mozzerella, basil and tomato, bread, fruit salad, and wine. We sat at the dinner table for about three hours just chatting and having a wonderful time, when we realized it was 10:30 and we should probably get ready to go out.
We ended up not leaving until sometime after midnight. The clubs in Rome don't open until midnight so this was fine. We went to the stop for the number 19 bus which would take us straight to the Colloseum, which is right near Gilda. We waited at the bus stop for 20 minutes when we realized the bus might not be coming.
We were all debating on what we should do- keep waiting or walk a great distance and take the tram- when Caroline turns to us and with a panicked face said "Guys. I am not lying to you right now. There is a man standing over there exposing himself." We were all silent for a minute while we absorbed what she just told us. Carefully a few of the girls scooted over to where Caroline was looking and saw that yes indeed, a man was standing a distance away facing us with his manly parts hanging out. We all turned immediately and started jogging towards the tram. Luckily, the man didn't follow us, and we can look back now and laugh at the situation. I think it may be the wierdest thing that has ever happened to me.
On our way to the tram the bus came by and stopped for us. After our frustrating night so far it seemed like things were finally going our way since we finally got the bus. However, our attitudes changed from joy to frustration again once we got off the bus and realized Gilda would be harder to find than we thought. We asked all the older couples we saw if they could show us where Gilda was, and they would give us directions but none of us payed attention. I think we all assumed someone else would pay attention. We also met up with David's friend Morgan, another club promoter who told us how to get to Gilda, and found our way there eventually.
The joy we felt upon arriving at the club quickly faltered when we found out the club was full and they weren't letting anyone in. Morgan arrived soon after we did and explained that they would probably let people in shortly because they weren't serving anymore alcohol so people would start to leave. We didn't feel like waiting and asked him if he could show us where Art Cafe was, which we had read about online earlier and where he told us he would be going later in the night. He told us he would take us there and his and David's friend Valorie came with us also.
We walked farther and farther away from the Colloseum down winding roads and we started to get nervous. We knew, from reading online earlier, that the club was underground, but this was a ridiculously long way away where there were no cabs (but there were police everywhere) and we all had on heals. Our feet were killing us since we had to walk a verrrrry long distance on cobblestones. Eventually, after traveling through a long underground tunnel where the metro was, we heard music bumping in the distance.
We turned the corner and see before our eyes the most amazing underground club we could have ever imagined. When we entered, Morgan got us VIP bracelets. We were, as far as we could tell, the only Americans in this club, since it is so hard to get into and is only open four times a month. We couldnt' believe that it was only our first night out and we were allready in one of the best clubs in Rome with VIP bracelets. The club was sooo much fun with all different rooms with different music themes. When we first got there we all went up to buy a drink only to find that drinks were 15 Euro. Yes. 15. Fortunately, after that we each got a free drink thanks to Morgan, but don't worry everyone we stood at the bar and watched the bartenders mix them and put them directly into our hands. And we were all very smart and only had two drinks.
We were all very very cautious the whole night, making sure we were all together at all times. If someone had to go to the bathroom we would split up into two groups of three so that three people could stay and watch our things and three would go to the bathroom. We never left our drinks and kept them covered when we held them. If any creepy guys came up and started to harass us, Morgan would immediately move us to another section of the VIP area, or ask the person to leave, and they would. He was like our own personal security guard. Since he is a club promoter it was his job to watch over us for the night. He makes a certain amount of money for every person he gets to come to the clubs he promotes.
We danced the night away and though we were always on alert and always cautious, we had a wonderful time. We were so happy that a night that had started out so awful turned into the most amazing time ever. Morgan and Valerie walked us all the way back to the bus station after we left the club to make sure we got there safely.
We barely made it back since we were all wearing heals and refused to take them off and walk barefoot on the extremely dirty Italian streets. We finally got back to our apartment at 5:30 am, which is normal for nightlife in Italy. At 1:30 this afternoon Amy came in and woke us up. We were all amazed we had slept the entire day away. Though the club was loads of fun, it won't be a common occurance because we don't think we can handle the late night into early morning thing. We are all proud of ourselves for being so cautious yet still having a great time. We are so glad we all get along so well and really look out for each other. Like I said before, I think this will be a great semester.

Rome is known for having the cleanest water in Europe.

It is the end of day two in the city of Rome, and today was a much better day than the first. We woke up bright and early and somehow managed to hop on a bus and find our way to the University. The school is in such a lovely area of Rome and it is such a nice building. There is a great little courtyard inside the walls of the school with tons of tables and chairs where it is always warm enough to sit for lunch.
Inside the university we got our student I.D.s and ate tons of free snacks. We also guzzled down almost their entire supply of water and juice because we were all extremely dehydrated. Next we went and met with some people to begin the process of getting our permit to stay in Italy. By the way, when I say we I mean myself and the five girls I live with (Caroline, Amy, Alexa, Alyssa, and Britt.)
Some of the girls' luggage got lost at the airport and shipped to the school today so we picked that up and ventured off to find a way home. We wandered around the streets forever trying to find the 44 bus in the opposite direction from the one we came on. We met the first person I've encountered in Rome who speaks English, and he told us where to go to find the bus. However on the way there we got confused and didn't understand where he told us to go. Alexa approached a man at an outdoor market and all of a sudden the whole community was surrounding us trying to help us find the way to our home. They were all so nice and eventually, thanks to them, we found the bus we were looking for.
After dropping the luggage off at home, we left the apartment to find some lunch and go grocery shopping. We ate at a little pizza place where I had ham pizza (yes mom I ate ham even though I hate it) and it was scrumptious! Then we went to two different grocery stores.
The first store we went to was called Todi's and that is where you can get food for half the price of the food at the regular grocery stores. However the food there didn't look that great so we just bought toilet paper, cartons of juice, detergent and bottled water there and bought all our fresh fruits, cheese, meats, and bread at the brand new grocery store directly across the street from our apartment (it just opened today!)
Also, at the grocery store, we found a massive jug of wine for just four euro. (As shown above) What a deal.
After returning home and taking a brief nap, Caroline Amy and I went back to the university and met up with a large group of people for a tour of the neighborhoods where we all live. It turns out the reason that we think Rome is so ugly is because we are not exactly living in Rome, or the Ancient part of Rome. We are more on the outskirts, so all we have to do is take a bus or a tram and we will find the beautiful parts of Rome. What a relief!
Amy, Caroline and I got broken off into a smaller group with just us and three other boys and our tour guide, an awesome girl who loved Rome so much after coming to this school that she stayed here. She took us all around on the busses and trams to show us how to get places and it was so helpful.
The three guys with us were adorable (but no where near as great as pat!). They were the nerdiest boys I have ever met with glasses and combed hair and they were skinny skinny skinny and very shy. However, one of them got up some courage at the end and asked the three of us if we would like to join them for dinner. We were very sad that we had to turn them down because we were cooking our own dinner tonight, but hopefully we will get to see them again soon.
Tonight we cooked ourselves some pasta and with it we had some fresh bread, some mozzerella basil and tomato and a delicious salad.
The scariest part of today was trying to cook with the Rome water. At first a white film kept forming at the top of the water in the pot. We thought at first the pot was dirty so we washed it, but it happened again. Then we tried switching pots and it didnt' appear that there was any film but when we were cleaning the dishes after dinner there were big globs of white stuff everywhere in the sink and in the empty bowls. We emailed the school to ask what it is and if it can be fixed because... gross.
That is all for today! Bedtime now, goodnight!