May 28-31

This week in Rome has been full with a lot of school. My OPS and Italian classes are going well but we still have to study here. I have had two tests in OPS and a quiz in Italian. I love learning the Italian language while I'm actually here because it makes things a lot easier to pick up. Mostly this week we have been going to classes and doing the usual shopping whenever we get a chance. Rome has great shops and street vendors...I'm probably spending a little too much!

The nightlife in Rome is similar to New York City and is tons of fun. They have events planned for almost every night we are here especially near the Spanish Steps and it's always fun to experience them with the locals. It's also really fun to see sites like the Trevi Fountain at night. It is completely different looking in day and night. Most of the Italians are extremely nice to all of us and are very patient when we do not speak very good Italian. I'm getting good at a few phrases but still have a lot more learning to do.

My roommate Annette and I had our first relaxing day in Rome since we got here this Wednesday. It's the first time we have even slept in past 9. We woke up really late and tried to get a few things done like our laundry and went to the place close to us to work out. We were just preparing ourselves for a big day on Thursday.

Thursday we went on a tour of the Seven Churches, which were absolutely amazing! My favorite was probably the house of Constantine which had an awesome outside courtyard. It was fun because our school organized for us to have a tour and we learned a lot about the history of it all. We spent about four hours going in all the churches and taking tons of pictures.

June 1

The weekend is finally here! My parents were supposed to come to Italy this weekend to see me but they had to cancel at the last minute. Oh well, all the more reason to buy them great souvenirs. So that is exactly what we did, ALL DAY! My friends Annette, Sara, Lauren and I spent almost all of Friday shopping in Rome. We went to all the cute little Italian boutiques (many that we could not afford) and stopped in a few Gelato shops along the way. Gelato is awesome in Italy....my favorite is definitely just vanilla. We saw a few tourist spots as we were walking like the Victor Emmanuel and the Coliseum. It's such an ancient city in Rome it's hard to believe sometimes. After a long day of shopping we came back to take a nap and then oddly enough went to a Chinese restaurant a few blocks away from our apartment. It was an interesting experience to say the least but worth the trip.

June 2 and 3

Annette, Sara and I woke up at around 6:30 Saturday morning to catch an early morning train to Venice. However, we Americans aren't so good at the Metro and train tickets and we missed the train we wanted to get on! I think we sat in the train station for 2 hours after that just trying to figure out what to do. It ended up that we decided to buy an overnight ticket to Venice for Saturday night. Lauren decided to tag along and the four of us left for Venice Saturday night at 12 and got there at 630 in the morning.

Venice was one of the most amazing places I have ever been. It's hard to put into words such a unique place. There were absolutely no cars and just tons of water. We walked around most of the day taking millions of pictures as usual. We went on a tour down the Grand Canal and went to Piazza San Marco to see the Basilica di San Marco. We even got to see part of a mass that was being held which was a really cool experience. Another really fun thing we did in Venice was take a short boat trip over to the island of Murano where all the Venetian glass is made. We went to a glass blowing factory and watched someone make a vase and horse right in front of us. It was really interesting to watch him and hear all about all the famous glass they produce. After a long day in Venice we left to go back to Rome around 5 and got home at about 12. We were exhausted at this point, but a trip to Venice is something I recommend everyone does at least once in their life!

-Steph

Venice Pics