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!