roman adventures

hello all! i'm sorry my posts are so spread out and long (this one is going to be...), but i'm still trying to figure out the most efficient, convenient way to use the internet - you'll know once i do because i'll be updating the blog more frequently :) and i'm also sorry about the lack of pictures so far! hopefully i'll find a wifi spot around my school this week so i can use my laptop. ok so here's the update!

june 4

such an awesome day! (even though i got sunburned...go figure). this morning for my art history class we went to the arch of constantine (AMAZING...i've written essays about that thing) and the colosseum.

the arch of constantine

view of the colosseum in the fora romana


inside the colosseum!

we finished looking around that area around 12 and had class at 12:30 so brianna and i grabbed a panini on the way and booked it to our italian language class. after class, we had our first italian adventure! we asked antonella (our italian teacher) what her favorite foods were (she's a native roman and knows what's up) and she suggested we try a supplì, a ball of rice, tomato sauce, and mozzarella, deep-fried to perfection. she also suggested we get gelato at a place called giolitti, which turned out to be ONE OF THE MOST FAMOUS GELATERIAS IN ROME...the line was out the door but definitely worth the wait (i got chocolate and melon...melon is my new favorite gelato flavor). on our way there we passed by the pantheon, nbd (stands for "no big deal", one of my favorite acronyms...brianna and i say it in italian quite frequently as "ene b d"...not quite an exact translation but it works haha)

our next stop was going to be the trevi fountain when we just happened upon the COLUMN OF MARCUS AURELIUS, one of my favorite pieces of ancient roman art and then an obelisk that was originally placed in the forum of augustus and the italian government's parliament building...wait, what? we were literally just taking a leisurely stroll when we walked right into the piazzas with all of these famous pieces (fyi, the piazza's are piazza montecitoria, piazza colonna, e piazza parlamento). i was in shock and so happy (the pictures are great...especially with gelato dripping all over our faces...yumm).

one of the obelisks from the forum of augustus

that's one of the coolest things about rome: you can go on a walk with no plan or direction and walk by historic site after historic site. i can't describe how incredible it is to see these monuments that i've studied for so long and seen in art history books so many times...incredibile!

after that, we made our way to the trevi fountain which is unfortunately constantly full of tourists...i know i'm basically an american tourist but i can't imagine how annoyed ordinary romans must get with us...mamma mia. we decided to just walk around the area and take in all of the amazing buildings we were surrounded with. we spent a large part of the rest of the afternoon on the via del corso, a famous street with tons and tons of shopping. i'm definitely going back there to spend my money...i bought a water bottle at the north face store and brianna and i took many pictures of beautiful italian men in beautifully tailored italian suits (people really are just more beautiful here...the men at least). we actually felt good about our italian and were able to effectively converse with people working in the stores, even though we frequently omit essential verbs and mess up tenses all the time. brianna and i ended our day together at the piazza del popolo, a place i must spend more time at! by that time though our feet were hurting pretty bad (even though i was wearing my freaking chacos!) and we parted.

that night, ilaria's son stefano came over for dinner and we had a really nice time. he speaks a little bit of english which made conversation at the dinner table a little more engaging than it has been (i.e. me saying "sì" to everything ilaria says because i can't understand her...). i got pretty homesick after dinner and really just wanted to get on facebook (sad, i know) and really miss everyone so much (especially yogi...). but i'll be fine and to get over my sadness i just made a playlist, painted my nails and watched some mad men season 2 (if you haven't seen that show i highly suggest you watch it...grade A).

unfortunately i have to leave the internet cafè right now for dinner but tomorrow night i'm going on an adventure to find a place with wifi where i can use my laptop! i'll upload pics and fill in the gaps about saturday and sunday then. for now, ciao ciao ciao ciao ciao!