Spanish Steps

So we went to the Spanish Steps today and I officially hate them.... sorry Tami. They really weren't that spectacular and there was scaffolding on the church at the top of the stairs so it didn't even make for a pretty picture. Then I was trying to fill up my water at the fountain there and my camera fell into the water. So I may not have a camera to take pictures with for the last 8 weeks of my trip. Then trying to fish my camera out of the three foot deep water I scraped my shoulder and lost my flipflop. To top it all of when I got home I throw up. I'm not sure why, I think it may be because I actually ate a meal today. So to say the least am not to happy with the Spanish Steps and I'm never eating again.

The Pope

On Wednesday we went to St.Peter's in Vatican city and to our surprise the pope was speaking. So I got to see the pope in person...to bad I had no idea what he was saying. There was a lot of people there and we didn't get to go inside to see the church and Sistine Chapel! I was pretty bummed about that but a group of us plan to go back on a Saturday and make a day of seeing the Vatican city. So anyways here are some pictures of the outside.

Castel Gandolfe

Ok I'm gonna go a little out of order because I haven't posted in a couple days but I'm so excited about what we did today! Today on our morning walk we took a coach bus about 30 minutes out of Rome to a little town called Castel Gandolfe. It is a country town and it was so incredible we all didn't want to leave. I didn't want to go back to the sticky and hot city because it was cooler and refreshing. I really wouldn't mind living here!

The beautiful lake!


Where we ate lunch!


The town

The Colosseum

We also went to the Colosseum yesterday. It is so enormous and of course pretty. It reminded me of Gladiator.

The Roman Forum

So today we went on a morning walk which ended up being 5 hours long! We had many stops and it was really hot! One of our first stops was the Roman Forum which was the hearth of ancient Rome. This was the place the whole city was built around. This is me at th is site you can see all the ruins in the background. It was unbelievably amazing! I don't know if you can tell in the photos how majestic it was.

Can't Escape it

So even when you're half way across the world you still can't escape the states. I also saw a whole shop dedicated to American sports, I could've bought a Laker's jersey for 100 euro... I don't think they got the memo that the Celtics won yet. Also they play a lot of American music... I heard YMCA today playing in a bistro.

The Pantheon

So I hope you guys have heard of The Patheon, it is one of the best preserved buildings of it's era, 125 AD. It was built has a temple to all the gods and now functions as a Christian church. I have been seeing pictures of this thing for years now in class and even still sitting in the middle of it, it looks fake because it's so beautiful and magnificent. As you can see there is a hole in the top so a beam of light cuts through the space. It's funny but you walk into this building and you can't help but believe there is a God. Almost all the details on the statues and the top of the domes are made in gold! I think they could feed half the world with how much gold is in this place!

Piazza Navona

This is the Piazza Navona!

Apartment

We got into our apartments today. It is directly on the Campo di Fiori and it is up about 6 flights of stairs... yea no elevators here. But it is pretty cute. Unfortunately I'm in the only co-ed apartment! I'm not to happy about that but what can I do? There are three rooms, I'm in a room with three other girls, one has four boys and the other 2 girls. So there is 10 of us totally in here... guess we are just gonna have to be a little family. It made me feel so much better, having a place to settle in and seeing the school!My room, my bed is in the middle
The girls bathroom
Kitchen
Living room with tv
Other girls room
View from our room!