Pictures!

Santa Marinella Beach

Colosseum

Caroline and me inside the Colosseum

Line for Colosseum (after we were already inside)

 Palatine Hill- one view (of so many)

View of Colosseum from Palatine Hill

Forum- again, one of many views

Next time...

 One of Pietro Canoica's sculptures

Lots to Cover!

     Its been a very busy week here in Italy, filled with so many cool adventures and a lot of homework. Fortunately, our professors have decided to lighten our workload, so we can experience more of Rome! This will be great for all of us, and certainly lift some weight off our shoulders. 

     Since my last post on Tuesday we have had two main "exploring" days. I've decided to detail all of these in one post, and then supply all the accompanying photos (with captions) in a second post. Unfortunately, its actually really difficult to line up all of the text and the images with the format of this program, so.. two different posts it is.

     On Friday, June 1st, we all went to the coast an hour away from Rome. We found a gorgeous beach, Santa Marinella, and the ocean was absolutely beautiful. As you all know, I am the ocean's number one fan, so our seaside trip has been one of my favorites so far! We were able to swim out to the rocks that you can (kinda) see in the photo. From there, you could see around the coast where there was an amazing view! I don't have any photos of this, but I do have GoPro videos which I can show all of you later.  
Saturday consisted mainly of homework, laundry, dishes and cleaning, so it wasn't a very exciting day. But Sunday was very successful in terms of sight seeing! By the end of the day we had seen the Colosseum, Palatine Hill, the Forum, and the Museo Pietro Canonica. On top of this was one failed attempt at going to the Borghese Gallery and one failed attempt at going to the zoo.  

     Our day started with an early morning and a LONG line at the Colosseum. On the first Sunday of every month, a lot of the famous places in Rome are free admission, so we decided to save some money and go. We waited for about an hour to get into the Colosseum but it was absolutely worth it! I have always dreamed of going there it was so surreal actually being inside. Palatine Hill was also free, but we got to skip the line for this, because they just scanned our Colosseum tickets. The best thing to do would have been to wait in the shorter line in the morning for Palatine Hill, and then use that ticket to skip the line at the Colosseum, but.. you live and you learn I guess. Palatine Hill was also amazing! I had always hear about it but never really knew what it was or what it looked like. It was so expansive, and I never realized how much of the anxiety city itself was preserved. The Forum, which is a part of Palatine, was also breathtaking. The pictures in my other post just don't do the view justice. 

     Sunday morning turned out to be very successful, but it was also 90 degrees the entire time. Although it was all beautiful to see, it was a lot of walking, stairs and sweat. So we went back to the apartment to rest and eat lunch. Then in the afternoon, we went back out intending to see the Borghese gallery, but it turns out you need to make a reservation ahead of time. So we decided to explore the rest of Villa Borghese. We found a zoo and all got way too excited. Unfortunately, it was pretty pricey, and it was not part of the first Sunday of the month free admission deal, so we had to pass.  But then we stumbled upon the Museo Pietro Canonica. This was a small but beautiful gallery featuring the work (mostly sculptures) of Pietro Canonica. This artist's house was actually turned into the gallery and is referred to as a house-museum. It was really amazing to look at his work, know he lived in the space where it is displayed. Once we finished up at this museum, we called it a day and went home for dinner. As we hadn't explored Rome in quite some time, Sunday was a great day for all of us to see some incredible sights. 

     This past weekend was great, and we got to check a lot off our list. A new post will be coming soon about our trip to St. Peter's Basilica yesterday!

Checking Things Off Our List 5/29

Today we made a plan to get lunch right after out class let out at 12:00 and then hit some major areas we wanted to see. The place we decided to eat was really amazing and they had gluten free options! So I finally got eat some Italian pizza, and it was delicious, even with the lack of gluten. After lunch, we headed over to the Spanish steps. We got lucky and out GPS took us to the top of the stair, so we only had to walk down them. The trek to the top in todays heat would have been pretty tough for all of us. 

From this area, we decided to check out the Pantheon. We were originally having trouble finding it, but then all of a sudden we turned the corner, and it appears. The building is absolutely stunning. The size of the entire structure is incredible, and this picture doesn't do it justice. We were all so excited to see this amazing church, and were glad to be able to check it off our bucket lists! In fact, we will most likely make at least one, if not two, more visits before we leave.

The Trevi Fountain is not far from the Pantheon so we decided to visit there as well. Of course during the middle of the day, this area is crowded with tourists, but we figured, why not go if we were so close! The fountain was stunning, and way bigger than I imagined. It was so beautiful, in fact, that one of my friends actually started crying happy tears! We were only there for a short while, but we are 100% planning on going back both in the early morning and late a night. This way, all the people won't be crowding around, and we can experience the fountain peacefully. Overall, an extremely successful day! We got to check a ton of places off our list, and now we will just end the day finishing our work, and most likely grabbing some gelato:)

First Day of School 5/28

Yesterday was our first day class which was exciting and slightly stressful. The course is a neuroscience and psychology class about fear and anxiety. It is really interesting but the work load is fairly heavy. As we had some work to get done, we decided to look for a cafe or library to do some homework after class yesterday afternoon. We took the bus out towards a cafe we found online. It just so happened that the bus stop where we got off was in front of this gigantic incredible building in the picture to the left. This building is the Piazza Venezia and is where the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is located. If we hadn't planned on doing work we would have explored this more and gone inside, but we will definite be going back soon. 

On our way to the cafe we also passed by a beautiful old church. The outside was amazing, which you can see in the picture to the right. Some of my friends were able to go in a take a look, but the rest of us didn't have our shoulders covered, so we could not. But, same with the Piazza Venezia, we plan to return soon! After this we found the nearby cafe and got some work done. It was a really nice atmosphere with good music and friendly people. Unfortunelty, the cafe closed at 6:30 so ended up having to leave. But it was a great place to work, and will most likely be a popular study spot for our class.

After we got back to out apartment, we finished up our work and went out for some gelato. This is a picture of Kalie and me with out cones. We have been in Italy only 5 days now and we have already gotten gelato 4 times! Don't know how long we should keep that up for, but the gelato here is just too hard to resist. 

Weekend in Florence 5/26-5/27

Yesterday was the first day of class and the work load is pretty tough so its taken me a while to get this post up but we had a great time in Florence this past weekend! We took a super early train on Saturday morning which was pretty rough, but definitely worth it. We got to see the beautiful Florence Cathedral, but unfortunately we did have time to go in. 

After we arrived, we got brunch at a really nice outdoor restaurant, and the food was amazing. Then, for most of the day, we just wandered around the city. Although its nice to sight see, sometimes just getting lost in the side streets can be incredible. We found a lot of cute shops and eateries. The picture on the left is of a cute fruit stand Kalie and I found. We found a lot of little places like this which were super fun to explore. Experiencing a new city like this gets you away from all the touristy places, and deep into the actual culture of the country. 

In our exploring, we stumbled upon the river which we had wanted to see anyway. It was a really nice surprise to turn the corner and see the it right there in front of us. Although the water wasn't crystal clear, the view was still amazing. There was a rooftop lookout we had wanted to go to, but it was just too far and we didn't have the time. Just walking across the bridge was beautiful enough.

Once we got settled into our hotel, we all decided to go out for dinner. At this point I was able to meet up with my friend from home who is also studying abroad in Italy for her college. It was so soo fun to see her, and absolutely crazy that we were in Florence together! After dinner we all went to a fun karaoke bar nearby. As a group, we actually did get the courage to go up and sing Mr. Brightside, and it ended up being a crowd favorite. 

The next day, we just got ourselves packed up and roamed around a little more. We found a cute restaurant and got some breakfast. Then, found our way to the train station and headed back to Rome. Unfortunately the air conditioning on our train car wasn't working until the last 40 min of the trip, so the heat was pretty brutal. But we made it back safe and we had a fantastic weekend, so it was definitely all worth it!

I Made It! 5/24-5/25

Palazzo Barberini

After arriving in Rome yesterday, my classmates and I settled into our amazing new apartment. We are in a great location, with and incredible balcony and plenty of space for everyone. Playing it safe on the first night, we went to a tame but very nice restaurant nearby for our first Italian meal. Everyone loved their food and drinks, and it was a great start to the trip. Today, we had our orientation at the small Italian school, Lorenzo de Medici (LdM) where we will be taking our class. After we learned some new information about Rome and what to expect on our trip, we were left a small amount of time to explore the nearby sights before meeting up for lunch. With no plan in mind, some of my classmates and I started to wander and stumbled upon the beautiful building to the right.  We weren't exactly sure what it was at first, but I later found that it is a national art gallery. Though we didn't get to go inside, we definitely plan on returning in the future to do so. 

 Imperial Forum Hotel 

Kalie (pre espresso shower)

After exploring some other side streets and gardens, we met up with the rest of our group and headed to lunch with the LdM staff. The food at Hotel Forum was amazing and the view was even better, as we ate on gorgeous roofed balcony. After our meal we were served traditional Italian espresso, which you can see my roommate Kalie drinking to the right. Unfortunately, shortly after the picture was taken, a waiter spilled an entire cup of espresso all over of Kalie's hair, pants and white shirt. Although we put club soda on asap, that shirt might be out of the wardrobe from now on. After lunch, we went to the rooftop bar above the restaurant which was absolutely gorgeous. After a small glass of Prosecco, we took the metro for the first time back to our apartment. No one was pickpocketed and we got where we needed to go, so I'd day our first trip was a success! 

To finish our day, we are planning to find a nice place to eat and treat ourselves to some gelato:)This weekend, the whole group of us are headed to Florence for a two day trip! We plan to explore the city tomorrow, and maybe even do a winery tour in the countryside of Tuscany on Sunday. So far, this trip has been completely amazing, and I can't wait to keep exploring!