Rome, Italy

Hola todos!

I am updating my blog because I don't feel like studying... WIN! So on Thursday I got back from the best trip ever to ITALY! I visited Rome, Florence, and Venice and got to see a lot of friends and so many historical monuments! I actually didn't travel the entire time with McKenna, so she will have to write her own blog entry about Italy! I started the trip with Madeline and Kelly and we met up with Danielle, Audrey, McKenna, Abby, and Kelsey along the way and saw some sights together and had dinners together and then Kelly and I just went to Venice together. So here is my first post about ROME!

Rome

     Monuments: I got to see SOOOO much here. It was also cultural heritage week so some of the sights were free to enter, so that was awesome. We saw pretty much all of the main attractions: Spanish steps, Colosseum, Roman Forum, Palatine Hill, the Capitol Building, Vatican City, St. Peter's Basilica, the Sistine Chapel, the Trevi Fountain, etc! Luckily we bought our tickets to the Vatican museum ahead of time so we didn't have to wait in line, which was great because the line was crazy. Who knew the Vatican would be so popular the weekend before Holy Week ;). Now, I'm not Catholic but it still was so neat to visit the Vatican and learn a little more about Catholicism and the Pope. A lot of my friends are Catholic so I get private lessons from them and could appreciate the things I was seeing a little more. Haha and a funny side note- when we were leaving the Vatican museum we came up with a song about the Pope, if you would like to hear it, let me know and I will sing it to you (it's a version of a youtube hit haha.) Also, for our Italy trip we downloaded Rick Steeves' Italy podcasts for the main attractions so that we could listen to our ipods instead of paying for an audioguide. It is an AWESOME thing to do (and free!), things are always more interesting when you actually know what you are looking at. We saw the Vatican the first day that we got there so me, Madeline, and Kelly were pretty tired (we hadn't slept at all because we traveled overnight) but we tried to stay energized and enjoy all of the sights we were seeing. I must admit though, my feet wanted to KILL me when we were walking around at the Vatican. But luckily, I got a seat on the wall of the Sistine Chapel and could relax (and possibly doze off for a minute or two woops!) when I was listening to the podcast and gazing up at the ceiling painting by Michelangelo, which was incredible! We had perfect weather on the day that we visited all of the Roman Ruins (lots of rocks, but still really cool! haha). Me, madeline, Kelly, Danielle, and Audrey went to all of these monuments together, it was a really great group to hang out with, we had a lot of fun.

Colosseum with Kelly

Kelly, Danielle, Audrey, & Madeline at the Roman Forum

St. Peter's Basilica

Throwing a coin into the Trevi Fountain

     Friends Abroad: So this semester I happen to have a TON of friends who are studying abroad as well. They are studying in a range of places: Ireland, England, Australia, France, Singapore, in addition to 9 girls from my house (Chi O) who are also studying with me in Granada! So luckily, I am able to visit a few of my friends who are in Europe. I have a few friends studying in Italy and 2 of them (Maggie and Gwen) are studying in Rome and were nice enough to let us stay with them on one night when we couldn't find an available hostel! I can't tell you how GREAT it was to see them. When we saw Gwen and Maggie after getting off of the bus it was a big reunion full of hugs and happiness (haha that sounds awkward). Gwen made us pasta and we all got ready for a night out in Rome with other people from their program. And Callie (another girl from Chi O) was also visiting so it was a WONDERFUL reunion. We had some Italian wine then went to an Irish pub for karaoke night. Of course I got up there to show my talent off (embarassing, haha!) but me, Madeline, and Kelly sang Grenade by Bruno Mars. It was a fun night and so wonderful to catch up with some of my friends who I have missed so much. Maggie and Gwen were awesome hosts and it was so great to see them enjoying Rome!

Madeline and Gwen singing 'No Scrubs' - no one can top these two!

Chi O 12's reunion in Rome :)

Callie, Madeline, Gwen, Me, Kelly, & Maggie

     Food: Well this is self-explanatory. We were in Italy so of course I ate everything I possibly could. I still feel full from all of the pasta/pizza/gelato I ate. But it was the BEST food I have ever had, the Italians def. live up to their reputation. A few of the dishes I had were Penne w/ Carbonara, pizza w/ mushrooms, pasta with mushrooms, paninis with amazing cheese. And of course... DESSERT. We had gelato probably every day and I don't regret it at all! The best gelato we had was at Giolitti's. OMG. You paid 2.50 for a 'small' cone and got 3 different flavors, it was so much gelato! I got fragola (strawberry), mango, and pistacchio and of course whipped cream on top. I WANT SOME RIGHT NOW! I also tried a canoli for the first time which was supa tasty. The only thing I didn't try was tiramisu which I am kind of bummed about because it is my favorite dessert ever, but hey, it's an excuse to come back to Italy I guess :). And of course the wine, it was great! Idk, I'm not a huge fan of wine but I think it is great with a good meal like pasta. I like more of the fruity/lighter stuff but I thought everything that I tried was pretty good.

Danielle and I with our three flavors of gelato!

Last dinner out in Rome

Audrey, Me, & Danielle

Well that is all for Rome for right now. I need to get ready to go see a Semana Santa procession in Granada. It is an amazing thing to see, kind of like a parade of religious figures with music and a lot of significance for holy week. I've seen 2 processions but sadly it's kind of rainy this weekend so a lot of them have had to been cut short. So hopefully today I will get to see the one that comes down from the Alhambra without it being rained out! Also, hopefully I will update more about my Italy trip (it's been rainy out so I'm not missing out by staying inside) but sadly this semester is coming to an end and I'm running out of time in this lovely city (sob). So I will try my best but I am more focused on living it up these few weeks, studying for exams, and enjoying everyone that I am with. But let me know if you want a postcard as I will prob. send out my last bunch sometime soon.

Alrighty, adios everyone. LOVE AND MISS YOU!
xoxo Bre