Un Fine Settimana Perfetto

A perfect weekend...

Friday: As I mentioned yesterday, I went to Tivoli with my art history class. On Friday night, pretty much the entire Temple Rome summer program did the Spanish Steps pub crawl. It's definitely a tourist-y thing to do, but it was fun to do once and in a large group of friends. For those who may not know, you pay 20 euro to travel to 3 different bars and a night club and drink for free and then later for cheap, a t-shirt, and pizza. It was also a fun way to meet other people traveling in Rome.

Friends before the pub crawl

Saturday: We have been dying to get to the beach since we got here since it's SO hot in Rome, so yesterday we took the Metro and then a local train to Ostia. It was about a one hour trip and only cost 2 euro to get there and back. We went to the very last stop Columbo, and headed to a beach called Venezia. We paid 10 euro to enter the beach and rent chairs, and relaxed for 4 glorious hours. The sun was shining and the wind was blowing. It was a perfect beach day, and a great way to unwind. While we were at the beach, there was an air show, so planes were flying very low over the ocean and doing all kinds of tricks, including blowing out smoke in the shape and colors of the Italian flag! Very cool.

Ladies laying out on the beach

Crazy Italian flag colored smoke

Saturday night, my roommates and I made pasta and had bread, and relaxed and unwinded. We also booked a trip to Paris for the weekend of June 11-June 14. Very exciting!

Sunday: Today was Pentecost and we went to a special mass at the Pantheon. At the very end, thousands of rose petals were dropped from the dome of the Pantheon. I actually wrote a guest blog post for another travel blogger about this experience, so instead of writing about it here, I'll post the link when she posts my blog.

Rose petals falling on the procession

Me and my rose petals

The 2009 Giro d'Italia (bike race) took place in Rome today, so we watched a bit of that. We wanted to catch a glimpse of Lance Armstrong, but he wasn't starting until 4:30 p.m. and we watched the race around 2:00 p.m.

Later, we wandered around the Spanish Steps and ate gelato. So far my favorite gelato flavors are mint chocolate chip, nutella, limone and banana.

A great weekend in Roma! How was your weekend?

Benvenuto a Roma!

I'm here!

I made it safely, thankfully. Oddly enough, the flight was actually sort of fun. This was my first time on a long flight (the longest flight I've ever been on has been to Florida) so I was a bit nervous, but everything went fine. There was a bit of turbulence, but nothing too bad.

At the Philadelphia airport

Luckily, I flew with my friend Erica so I wasn't alone. We had our own personal TV screens in front of us, so I watched Marley and Me, Bride Wars, and an episode of How I Met Your Mother. I only slept for a little bit. I was so amazed that it was dark the first half of the flight, and then became sunny, even though it was very late at home.

We got our bags with no problem and headed to Temple's apartment building. I am living in an apartment with my three friends Erica, Reilly and Melissa. We really lucked out in getting a quad (more on that tomorrow, I will post pictures of the apartment!)

I took a little nap, and then went to an Internet cafe to make sure my mom knew I got to Rome safely. Since then, I've been able to get the Internet working in my apartment, so I'm good to go.

Around 6, we walked to the school for a pizza party. The school is about a 30 minute walk away, but it was a pretty nice walk. I met some of the other people on the trip and enjoyed some Italian pizza. We walked over to the Spanish Steps and people watched for about an hour and a half. I could sit there all day!

After that we walked to the Piazza del Popolo which was amazing.

Piazza del Poploo at sunset

Later, we wandered around Roma and went to a restaurant called Starbess near our apartment and had some vino like true Italians!

I'm a bit thrown off by the time difference. I'm not too tired, I just never have any idea what time it is or when I should be eating or when I should be sleeping. Hopefully, my body will adjust soon.

Tomorrow, we continue orientation with a walking tour of Rome, so I will update with more pictures after that!

I am definitely loving Rome so far. Can't wait to see more!