buona domenica!

Happy Sunday!

I woke up to an absolutely gorgeous morning - we opened up the windows for fresh air and had our espresso on the porch.

I haven't seen my host family very much because its been a very busy week. However, my host mom and I have been texting each other - can you believe it, exactly a week here and I can already read text messages in Italian and reply in Italian.

So Thursday night we had a delicious dinner of gnocchi (in the form of strips, not little pockets) with cauliflower and about a pound of cheese. It was absolutely amazing. I think my host mom said that it had potato and cabbage in it, but that might have been a error of translation because I didn't taste any...

Thursday night after dinner, I took the bus back downtown and met some friends to go to the Trevi fountain. It is so amazing and beautiful. When you walk up to it, all you can do is stand in awe for about twenty minutes, absorbing it. We sat outside of the fountain and had a couple bottles of wine and took lots of pictures - they'll be up soon!

After we left, we walked back to Piazza Barberini and took the night buses home. It was tricky because they go different places than our regular buses. Its so exciting to be able to find my way around the city because I recognize certain streets or buildings. I thought I would be nervous walking by myself at 3.30 through Rome, but the city seriously is not asleep. There are people out walking their dogs, cars & vespas zooming by, people waiting for buses, and people sitting on their balconies drinking. I feel very safe and usually talk on the phone until I'm inside my building just in case.

Friday morning I didn't have class so I got to sleep in and do homework. We had a welcome pasta at our Italian school and ate so much delicious pasta. It was so funny to see the director of the Italian school, Chiara, walking around with a couple bottles of wine for us to enjoy with our pasta. That kind of thing would never happen in America! There is honestly wine EVERYWHERE. We bought a bottle for dinner last night for just under 3 euro. It was so cheap because its bottled just outside of Rome. So its cheap and good!

Friday after Italian class, we went to the Italian version of happy hour - apertitivo. You buy a cocktail or a glass a wine and you can eat at a buffet for free.

I went home early Friday night around midnight because I had my first Art & Architecture class on Saturday morning.

Yesterday was SO busy. We went to class at 9 and left campus after about an hour. We walked all over the Forum Boarium, which is where Hercules was said to have landed when he was busy completing one of his impossible tasks.

We saw the oldest standing temple in Rome, dating from the 2nd century B.C. We also saw an old chariot racing track that is still formed as such. The bleachers, starting gates, etc are gone, but the track is there. Actually, Romans go running there, perhaps to carry on its proper use.

After wandering around the city, we went to the Pontifical North American College, where the Seminarians from USA learn how to be priests while living in Rome. There is a group of about 4 Seminarians who will be our 'campus ministry' while we're in Rome. They cooked lunch for us to welcome us - bruschetta, caprese salad, penne in white sauce with sausage, and gelato. It was delicious! (not to mention free :) )

They also took us up to their rooftop where there is a 360 view of Rome - pictures soon, I promise!

We then went on to St. Peters, where we were supposed to have a tour led by Dr. Dawson, our program director & teacher. Unfortunately, it was the 90th anniversary of some religious group and they had a private appointment with Benedict XVI. Sooooo, St. Peters will be happening later....

Last night, we went to Trastevere, the oldest neighborhood in Rome, with an excellent night life. We just chose a couple stops and hung out with Italians in these crazy bars that play American rap in Italian....great fun :)

Today we went to a park about 20/30 minute walk from my house and did our homework in the sun!

Anyway, there will be more pictures of everything coming up soon.

Thanks for reading!



Oh - Vince: my teacher is organizing a trip to the place under the crypt of St. Peters, I forget what it is called, but I know you told me about it and I thought you might be interested that we would be going there! I also asked him about L'eau d'vie and he knows about it and said it was delicious and would gladly show us how to go there, so that looks like it's going to happen as well.


Ciao!