Arrived back in Florence from a three day trip to Rome this evening.
We left Thursday afternoon. I was so bummed because that morning the sun was shining here in florence and the rain stopped, and we had to leave :(
Obviously once we got to Rome it didnt matter. We got to our hotels which were about a 5 minute walk from the Pantheon, and ten minutes from the ruins. All 73 of us went to dinner at a restaurant in a piazza near our hotel. It was a five course meal, which we all wished we had known beforehand, because we were all unbelievably stuffed by the end. Being a vegetarian has proved to be the best choice so far this trip. There are four of us here, and we usually end up getting better meals than everyone else. That night the girls at my table were joking around saying that they would be turning into vegetarians by the next day if they could have meals like mine. Lucky me. I was pretty worried when coming here that it would be difficult, but there are vegetarian options everywhere I go that it has not been difficult at all. The owners of my pensione are awesome and they make me and Jennie (another vegetarian in our building) fish for our meals instead of the chicken or pork that they serve the others. It has been great.
Anywho, that night after dinner we all went to a bar right next door to it called the Drunken Ship. Some say its a pretty American bar but of all the places we went, it was the most "italian". As i have said before, everyone here speaks English, so no matter where we go, we fit in well. We didnt stay there late because we were all so exhausted, so after we took a stroll through the city over to the river and onto to bridge. We hung out there for a while before returning home to rest up for Friday's events.
On Friday we did a 3 hour walking tour of the major older monuments of Ancient Rome We saw the Pantheon, the Colosseum, and all the ruins of the political buildings. Our tour guide was fantastic. She was extremely intelligent and really gave us a great understanding of the city. I of course was right up front next to her with two other students soaking in everything she said and asking plenty of questions, so I got a lot out of it.
Then we went to lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe, and strolled around the area going to the Trevi fountain and eating gelato. It was my first gelato of the trip and it was delicious! The fountain was amazing, and we all threw coins over our shoulders and made wishes and hung out there for a good hour or so. Then we walked to the Bourghesi museum. (good chance we walked over 15 miles this weekend...) I had remembered this museum as boring, and one I didnt really enjoy when I had been to Rome with my parents, except for I did remember that I had enjoyed some of the statues. This time I had a much greater appreciation for everything. The statues blew my mind again. Apollo and Dafni continues to be my favorite statue of all time, and I spent a good 15 minutes at it, listening to the audio guide and talking to a person who worked there about it (he spoke english...shocking). But the museum was wonderful and Im glad I got to go back and appreciate it more.
Then we went back to the hotel. We had the entire night free to ourselves so some girls and I got some delicious pizza, and went on a Colosseum Pub Crawl. It was fun. We went to four different pubs and danced the night away.
Saturday was basically entirely on our own. We were taken to the Vatican, and after getting our entry tickets were allowed to do what we wanted. We walked through the museum, saw the Sistene Chapel which as I had remembered from before as one of my favorite parts of Rome, and remains to be. Then we went to St. Peters. I had told my friends to prepare themselves for the beauty of it, but even I had my breath taken away when we walked in the front doors. We spent a lot of time in there, soaking it in and praying in every section they had open.
Due to exhaustion, we went home and took naps for a few hours before dinner. Dinner was in a small family owned restaurant, we took the entire place up. Again, I lucked out being the vegetarian because I had the best meal. Homemade spaghetti with eggplant :)
After, we had a once in a life time special tour given to us by our Chaplin, father Brian. It wasnt a scheduled thing. Some of us were hanging out in the lobby after dinner, and he came up to us suggesting a walk to the Trevi at night. We said it sounded great and went. Of course, it was beautiful. After hanging out there for a bit, we went to his favorite gelatto spot nearby, where we all got gelatto, on him. After, he took us to the Bellarmino Palace. In this palace, there are 70 Jesuit priests. They are from 30 countries, and speak 25 different languages. They are all studying to get their doctorates and other additonal education. The building is a part of the Vatican, but located in a different part of the city. From the extremely high terrace (on the roof) we could see the Pantheon, Spanish Steps, St. Ignatius, the Vatican, and the Piazza Venezia. It was breath taking and definitely a once in a lifetime experience. Only 15 of us got to go, and we were so happy we had the experience.
This morning we got up, packed up the bus, and headed to Vatican city. We were given 3 hours there. We knew that at noon the Pope would be doing his blessing, and otherwise we could do what we want. We played in the middle of the plaza by the manger scene and christmas tree. When the Pope came out there were hundreds of people there. He spoke for a few minutes in Italian, and then it over 7 different languages, blessed the crowd. It was awesome! Definitely something I am glad I was able to be a part of.
The four hour trip home was filled with sleep and exhaustion, and now I am back in the pensione hanging out with the girls, downloading pictures, and writing journals.
Class starts tomorrow! cant wait.
Buona Notti.

p.s. Grandma Schulz - I told my girlfriends here that I needed to find a nun for you. They thought I meant a real nun, we got a good laugh from that. Ever since, we have been taking pictures of real nuns walking on the streets. I will have a collection of pictures for you when I return home :)