You cheer my heart, who build as if Rome would be eternal.

-Augustus Caesar

Ciao! well I made it back from Roma in one piece! Roma is one of my favorite cites here! It was great. I had so much fun, minus a few things. It was so incredibly HOT! i have drank so much water in the last 5 dyas its crazy. I finally bought a 1-5 liter bottle of water and drank about 2 bottles worth before lunch. We got there Saturday around noon. We took a fast train, so we got there in about 4 or 5 hours. We found our hostel, which was nice for a hostel... it was on the 5th floor of a building near the train station, luckily it had an elevator which became our best friend on the 2nd day :) We decided to spend our first day looking at the ancient ruins. Saw the Colosseum, the Roman Forum (ancient Roman ruins) Palentine Hill and we went to the Piazza Bocca della Verità. There is a giant round sun with a mouth, that if you put your hand in it and tell a lie it supposedly cuts off your hand. That was the main thing outside of the main stuff that i wanted to see in rome. its in Roman Holiday, which is why iwanted to see it. Unfortunatly it was behind a gate when we went so we couldnt actually try the hand in the mouth thing. The Colosseum was beautiful, not quite what expected... I think im a bit more partial to the Arena in Verona now. but the Colosseum was still great to see, very cool. That night we caught up with some friends from the program that had already been there for a few days (they are in a different class than us, different schedule) and had dinner, then we headed back to the hostel. I went with two girls that i met here, Keelin and Andrea. Our room had a big bed, which they shared and a smaller bed, mine, which sqeaked everything i moved. it felt like a box of srings with a thin sheet of something on top. it was fine, i know things couldve been a ot worse, but the noise everything i moved was really annoying and i felt back for Keelin and Andrea... the next day was probably my favorite. We got up at 6am and got ready and took the Metro to the Vatican. The last Sunday of the month the vatican museum is free, so we decided getting up early was worth gettin in for free (saved 12 Euro!) we waited in line for almost 2 hours, but it was fine, we took turns going to a cafe to get breakfast. I got an amazing chocolate cressant and some other pastry and red orange juice (which is amazing) we decided to slurge on an audio guide. Audio guides here are pretty hit or miss if they are good ones or not. Usually I just want them to tell me what the art is about and what random statues are. It was definatly worth it for the Vatican, there is a lot of art and luckily the audio guides told us about the art and the different rooms. then we got to the Sistine Chapel... luckily being in art history I heard a lot about it and what the different parts of the ceiling mean and all that different stuff....it was amazing! Definatly one of my favorite things of this whole Italy trip. I couldve stayed there for at least an hour and just stared. I have my favorite parts...all of the last judgement (the wall on the altar side) is beautiful. my favorite parts of the ceiling are the standard...Adam and God almost touching (i bought a print of the two hands) and the Delphic Sibyl http://www.teslasociety.com/mich.jpg I tried to find a print of that, but nothing like i wanted...i figured it was famous enough i could find one somewhere online or something. Ive decided my favorite artist that ive learned about is Michelangelo...his paintings and sculptures are so beautiful. Ive also decided my favorite art is pretty much any type of Last Judgement painting, and type of Pieta http://ee.eng.usf.edu/snider/light/artist/Michaelangelo/Pieta.jpg , painting or sculpure. Michelangelo's is still my favorite, but I saw one by Van Gogh (a painting) which was pretty cool. After the Vatican (no we didnt meet or see the Pope) we went to St Peters Basilica, which was beautiful. We bought the audio guide for that too. We split up there, but then after i was done i walked around again (the heat was getting to me in the beginning so i didnt feel so good the first sections i saw so i went back...as i was looking Keelin came and grabbed my arm and was like 'we got afree tour of the dome' its normally 4 euro at least and someone that worked there offered to take us up for free. So we took the elevator up, which i think it wouldve been fun to take the stairs, but we hadnt eaten since 8 that morning and it was at least 2 or almost 3 by this point, i wouldnt have made it. but we the elevator only goes up so far. So once the elevator ends you have go around one part of the dome, the inside, which was beautiful. then he left us, and we found out why...the stairs to get up to the outside top are narrow and tiring to go up...but the view was worth it! After St Peters we went and saw two tombs, The first was Pope John Paul II and the other was St Peter. pretty cool. after that we got lunch and did some shopping. Headed back to our hostel and took naps. Later that night we went for a night walk around Rome which lasted for about 4 hours. Rome is beautiful at night, everything is lit up. But at about midnight we decided we should head back. we got a little lost, well not really lost, we knew where we were, just not how to get back. As we were walking these three Italian guys pulled their car over and started to talk to us. We talked to them for a few minutes, but then said we had to go because it was late, well they asked us to go out with them... we said no, it was late and really we didnt want to get in a car with 3 italian guys (didnt tell them that part) so finally we got away and then seriously not more than 10 minutes later they found us, not sure if they were following us or just ran into us, but they tried to get us to let them take us home. They said it was very dangerous, which Im sure they were right, but we didnt feel comfortable getting in their car. So they walked us home. it was nice of them, We had fun walking home, they were nice guys funny too. Im glad they walked us home cuz theres some people near the train station at night that i wouldnt want to be near by myself. So we thanked them for the walk and went to bed. The next day we went to a few churches and the Pantheon, which was beautiful. not much inside. saw raffaello's tomb. Then i started to have contact promblems so went back to the hostel and i tried cleaning them which didnt end up working. I think therse something wrong with them, cuz ive been wearing my glasses for two days and they are still funny. Its getting better but then it randomy feels weird. Im mad cuz i only have a few days left here and i have to wera my glasses, which i hate cuz i think they are a different prescrition than my contacts. but i dont wear them that much except between taking them out and going to bed. so i didnt think it was worth changing the prescription, but ive been having eye problems lately :0 I thought about going to the hospital here, but they dont speak english and the people that have gone here have been there for at least 6 hours and hadnt had good experiences there. I think I'll be fine. Tues we went to a castle that supposedly is in angels and demons, which i hope to read onthe way back to the US. Keelin finished her copy and was just gonna get rid of it, so i offered to buy it off her.
Tomorrow is my art history final, im a little nervous, im not sure IM ready for it yet. but i think sarah, tracey and i are going to have a study party tonight. OUr teacher gave us a study guide so hopefully that helps. Then tomorrow night is the opera!!! Aida. im sooooooo excited. its in the arena which is going to be amazing! except i think we are sitting on the old stone seats, so that could get rough after about the 3rd hour. Shania Twain just came on the radio... Friday I might go back to Venice with Keelin and Andrea and a few other people i think. Ive been there once as a day trip with the group, but we were running around so much i didnt get to enjoy venice excet for on the gondola ride. Saturday maybe Lake Garda with Sarah and her dad, who is coming in town friday. I wanted to spend more time in verona, but these are places i didnt really get to see. so i figure i'll just walk around verona at night. Im sure people will want to just chill in one of the Piazzas. Sunday I come home. its crazy how long ive been here and how fast it went by. I still have 4 days worth of emails to read and shopping to do... i shouldve done my shopping a lot earlier than the last week... but i dotn think i have too much left to do... i hope :)
Ciao!

oh PS i just read that they just got the official OK to change my college name to College of Applied Health Sciences, just in case you care....