Hola Amigos,

I'm speaking Spanish because I was just prepping for my weekend trip to Barcelona, but before we head there, let me update you on my first week in Roma.

Wowza. Rome>Florence. It's bigger, more lively, and the size and population make it much harder to run into any Americans or other English speaking know it all tourists (too harsh?). We started classes last Monday, it was an exciting first day, but lets be real, school is pretty universal, sitting in a classroom for an hour and forty minutes per class is only slightly more exciting in Rome than in the States. We live in a cute area, Trastevere, which translates to "the other side of the tiber." Our neighborhood is very lively, lots of restaurants, bars, and boutiques. I had the pleasure of running along the Tiber River last week. It was not all it seems though, mostly reeks of pee, dog poop, and is the camp ground of many roaming Romans. The parks here however are nothing short of beautiful and have been my designated workout spots.

Our school is about a fifteen minute walk from our apartment, it took me about a week to learn that the Argentina ruins we walk by EVERYDAY were where Caesar was stabbed by Brutus 23 times, cool right? Lizzie McGuire has been blasting in our apartment every afternoon and evening, I can't decide if that will get old or not, but hey why not (get it?)? My blog humor is lacking, I will be sure to keep working on it. Speaking of Lizzie McGuire, I made my wishes at the Trevi Fountain on Valentine's Day, but my wish will forever be secret.

Obviously I have done plenty of touristy things while I have been here, climbed the Spanish Steps, I spent an evening at Vatican City, attempting to see the Pope give his last Ash Wednesday Mass, not because I am a big Pope supporter, but hey why not try and witness some history? Long story short, I didn't get in. I also made a trek to the Colosseum and took plenty of touristy pictures and selfies (see below). While looking for a gelateria that has over 150 different flavors of gelato, I stumbled upon the Pantheon, I got kit-kat, chocolate amaretto, and bigne flavored gelato, then took my tourist shots of the Pantheon.

I had the awesome opportunity to attend the Roma soccer game last Saturday. They played the number one team in the Italian League, and won! The atmosphere was unlike anything I have seen. There was a "fire" section, where lucky fans could literally set things on fire, but don't worry, there were firefighters to put out the flames. The soccer game put American football to shame. The crowd and the atmosphere that it created were truly spectacular and I was very lucky to be a part of it.

This weekend I head to Barcelona, to give the Sagrada Familia a looksie and compare it to the wonders I have seen by Brunelleschi, Leonardo and Michelangelo, oh and to eat and drink of course.

Here are some pictures to recap what I have been up to, and for my Facebook friends, an album titled Ugly, Ridiculous Selfies will be published shortly.


Hope all is well friends and family.

Buonasera.

                                       My new friend Alessia, before we got denied to see the Pope

                                                        Becky and I at the Trevi Fountain

                                               The Spanish Steps

                                                Pantheon, post Gelato of course

                                                  Selfie outside of the Colosseum

                                                      Some Roma soccer fun

Ciao Friends,

I don't even know what day it is. This trip has been flying by. We have spent the last two weeks in Florence with a few day trips and one weekend trip. So many touristy things were accomplished there, I did some solid work on my bucket list. From the top of the Duomo to the Uffizi Museum, to dropping 30 euro for gross overpriced pasta in Venice, I have to say I have done much more than expected. Becky and I climbed the Duomo, ran up to the Palazzo Michelangelo, ate tons of pizza and gelato of course and enjoyed the sighting in Siena and Venice.

When in Florence we took a 2 week, 4.5 hour/day Italian Language and Culture Class, I actually enjoyed it. Beatrice (my lovely teacher) rocked, so much Italian was thrown at us over this two week period, but it has been a wonderful experience to be able to use some of my knowledge to engage with the locals. 

Now down to the good stuff: FOOD. Seriously, everything does taste better in Italy, well except for the "Fried Chicken Delicacy" and "mashed potatoes" that were served to us one evening for our free hotel meal, food in genearl is just that much yummier here. I'm for sure a coffee addict now, #hipster. I need my espresso every morning, along with my croissant. 

Florence was a very beautiful city, but two weeks was the perfect amount. I was very good at being an American Tourist too. We left Florence on Saturday afternoon, and arrived in Roma, where we will officially be living for the next 3 months, Saturday evening. We moved into our apartment, it is "so Italy." I have four other roommates, and we have two bedrooms, a living room, two bathrooms, and a kitchen, with a washing machine and dishwasher, thank god. We were greeted by our landlord, a very friendly cute old man along with his son, his daughter, and his granddaughter, they gave us chocolates too. Our apartment is located in the Trastevere region of Rome, it is a great neighborhood, lots of restaurants, and lots of bars (this is key). Our walk to school is about 15 mins, based on the walking I have been doing the past few weeks I have been here, 15 mins is a walk in the park. Tomorrow we start classes, I'm not sure how I feel about saying that, I have gotten in a routine of attending one class, sightseeing, and eating, and now I actually have to go to class? Weird. Don't worry Mom, I'll take a first day of school picture along the Tiber River.

Now that I actually have working internet, here are some photos over my stay in Florence. More posts and photos to come. 

                                             Palazzo Michelangelo

                                                   Spritz

                                            Walk up to Palazzo Michelangelo

                                              Top of the Duomo

                                                Leaning Tower

                                                          Venice

Ciao Friends.