Bongiorno, Roma!

I don't even know how to BEGIN to describe the day I just had, except maybe to begin to describe the previous night, because that kind of set the context for the day. We live in dorms, remember? And we're here with maybe...three or four different schools. Some people from those schools got a little drunk last night and ended up running up and down the hallways, banging on doors and making a RIDICULOUS amount of noise. Most of the people on my floor didn't sleep. I did, though I had a dream about people being rambunctious, and awoke, still feeling a bit under the weather, to find that others hadn't slept either. So, we all head down for orientation kind of looking like this.



At building orientation, we're informed all the standard dorm rules (don't burn down the dorm, don't kill your roommate, etc.). And, you know, no drinking. Or bringing back alcohol to the dorm. Or drugs. So everyone's looking around at each other because of what went down the night before (also, apparently there were goats and geese outside making noise?). So, that gets taken care of...sort of. After that, we headed out for orientation of the city!

And by the way, if you're looking for a cheap place to eat in Rome (and I assume the rest of Italy), hit up the small street places--the further away from big attractions like the Trevi Fountain, the better. And also go to the supermarket. Because they exist! And you can get bread for .33 Euro! :) Carlyn got me the bread this morning. She's a lifesaver. Also has an adapter so I can charge all my electronic academic devices. :P And sunscreen. And Antonia has aloe vera, which she gave me. My sunburn's looking better already! And now it's just a ridiculous shade of dark. Still, I wore a strapless dress today. My shoulders still hurt a little.

Pictures from the city!!!



My roommate's in white, and Dr. Bednarz is in red. She's a rockin' awesome person, and I'm not just saying that because she's going to read it. She has so much energy!!! Walked around a ton of the city like no one's business.

Which reminds me, I need better shoes. I brought dresses to balance the warm and cool and tennis shoes for my feet, but I forgot they didn't go together, so I'm walking around the city in flats. Which are comfortable (I'm blister-free, thank goodness) but don't have arch support, so my feet are dying a little. Just a little.

Jesus sandals appear to be the way to go. Where do I get those?





As long as you have a water bottle in Italy, WATER IS FREE. Because it comes out at random points on the street from aqueducts that connect to mountain streams that have served Rome for a number of years around the thousands. There's this faucet-like thing, and it just comes out at a continuous flow (usually). You can also plug the bottom with your hand, and there's a hole on the top curve of the faucet-like thing that makes the water squirt out the top, therefore making a water fountain.

WORLD, WHY DO YOU NOT HAVE THESE THINGS IN OTHER PLACES?

Or maybe it's not the world's fault.







I have a lot of pictures of Michelle taking pictures. Funny conversation about that:

Hutch: That's a lot of pictures you've got there.
Michelle: It's okay. I have a sixteen-gig memory gard. I got it for my birthday.
Hutch: WHOA. Sixteen? I thought my eleven was bad! I didn't even know they MADE sixteens!

So yeah, she likes pictures.

The other pictures are us in and around the area of Castel Sant' Angelo, as well as the bridge right next to it, Ponte Sant' Angelo. The Castel is actually in the opera Tosca.

Which, by the way, the fact that these tickets cost an arm and a leg IS NOT FAIR. I really want to go see an Italian opera! And La Boheme is LITERALLY going on while I'm here. Just...ugh.



And then we saw a statue of St. Catherine of Siena, who we're going to be studying! I tried to take a picture with my weird iPhone that only works one way (because I, you know...broke it) and ended up cutting off her head with my face. Ah, well.

Speaking of aqueducts, we toured one today!!! Here are some pictures.

















The headless statue and I (which they think is a woman because she has the remains of a ponytail on her shoulder...WHOA) got chummy there at the end. :)

The pictures do a weird job of summing everything up, but essentially, the aqueducts were part of this excavation that also uncovered these cities on top of cities and lots of different things. In the tiny excavation we got to see, there were the remains of FOUR BUILDINGS. And we got to see all this old glassware (yeah, glass plates and bowls and IT WAS INSANE) as well as old coins, which were all about the size of dimes and different colors. They said that the gold one was probably worth the most. And then we talked a little about the Colosseum and about how there was all this stuff written about what went on in there, and experts were trying to figure out if the stuff happened by recreating it, etc. In one story, the bottom was filled with water so that a ship war could be reenacted? It reminds me of the ridiculous things that Medieval folk used to do with food...like make ridiculous sculptures out of food and bring ships in for presentation.

And to think that we all thought those were much simpler times...







More of Sant' Angelo...kind of out of order, but I'm trying to base the day around general themes that I saw.

Here are pictures of the Vatican. We visited briefly, just to get an overview of where it was and stuff. Turns out the pope was saying mass. I was too far away to get good pictures, but the crowd is pretty cool to look at.











I asked Dr. Sebastian about why the Swiss Guard was Swiss, if they were all Swiss at all, and he told me that since Switzerland was pretty much the only constantly neutral country like...ever, the pope could count on the guys to actually protect him without a hidden agenda. I didn't get any up-close pictures of the Swiss Guard, but you know what they look like. :)

After we left the Vatican, we went into a TUNNEL!!!



Some examples of the modernism in Italy amidst the history...

Port-a-potties!



Commemorative dictator spirits!!! Extra points if you find Hitler!




Really cool cars!!! (Because I think the police are cool or something...)




Flowers in Rome!!! I forgot how many there actually were. There are so many rooftop gardens too. Antonia says she'll take me to a road where there are NOTHING BUT FLOWER VENDORS SEELLING PRETTY PRETTY FLOWERS. I cannot wait.









^ There's a lot of ivy too. That's just one of the pictures I took of the ivy. :) But it's everywhere. There was

Antonia and I bought fruit for lunch! We were trying to not buy fruit, because we'd already bought gelato, and we were sitting right in front of the fruit, admiring it and trying not to eat it.

Well, Dr. Bednarz walks by and is like, "Girls, did you try the fruit? It's delicious."

Antonia: It's a sign.
Me: Especially if a nun is telling us to buy it.

We bought oranges.



Also, Rome has THE BIGGEST PIGEONS I HAVE EVER SEEN. Bigger than the ones in Boston, which held the previous record. Like, okay, see that orange? That's my dress. AND THAT IS A PIGEON. IT HAS NO FEAR. IT IS TERRIFYING. Antonia and I got a little frightened. They started circling us and closing in.



Also, I didn't mention this, but a lot of the flower pictures come from the Travestere, which is the traditionally Jewish part of Rome but is also one of the nicer parts, I thought. Also, Amanda Knox is in prison around this area. If you want to read more about her, click here. It's kind of scary.

Quotes of the Day:
- "Forget the flea market! Look at the castle!" - Dr. Sebastian on priorities
- "YEAH, JOHN! GET IN THE PICTURE!" - random Italians on Segways after hearing all of us try to coax Dr. Sebastian into a picture
- "I like these churches better than those GAUDY BAROQUE MESSES." - Antonia and Dr. Sebastian, on how churches are better if they rock it old school
- "This alley is a popular place for lovers, so take your lover here before you become a priest or a nun." - Dr. Bednarz (LOVE LOVE LOVE)
- "I want to be massaged by dolphins!" - Antonia, on how Miami universities should advertise better and more accurately
- "I took great care of the kid! I'm just glad the cat was there to help." - Hutch, on babysitting
- "That Sebastian...he is full of gems. Not wisdom. Just gems." - Lauren Baudot
- "I've lived in New Orleans too long. A tour bus drove by, and I thought, hey! A party bus!" - Carlyn
- "Never raise the roof to get ready." - Hutch

We went out later that night to go back to the Trevi Fountain, but I'm going to post about that later. :) Bonanotte! (Or bongiorno...why is it so late/early?)