First Weekend in Rome

Well I experienced my first real day of rain. We went out Friday night,woke up later Saturday because it was raining. Even though it was not pouring rain, I decided to stay in for most of the afternoon and get some reading/homework done. I wish I could have explored more of Rome, but it was nice just to relax by myself and chill. Around 5 oclock, my friend Kim and I decided to take a walk. We walked up these flights of stairs right by the Tram Station and walked through a cute neighborhood. Since it was Saturday, everything closes early so nothing was open, but I am excited to get to know that area when its nice out. I came back made myself some dinner and hung out with people the rest of the night.

Today was Sunday which means Market day! My roommates and some friends got up at 10am this morning to go to the market. All I wanted to buy was a sweatshirt and lounge pants. Somehow I only brought one pair, so I figured I needed some more. I got a good sweatshirt at a cheap price, and I thought I got a bargain on some sweats, but when I came back to my apartment, they were the wrong ones. I got them in a package, which means they are not used, but they were the wrong pants. And since its a market and I have no idea where I bough them, I cant return them. They were cheap so its not that big of a deal, but note to self never buy pants or anything from the market without trying them on. I really need to find myself some new sweat pants though. Since Europe doesn't believe in driers, it takes about 2 days for our clothes to dry.

After the market, a few girls and some of the guys went to the Vatican. It was my first real monument to see since being in Rome for a week. We walked from the bus stop into the area outside of the Vatican and my mouth dropped. I had seen so many pictures of what it looks like, but its so much more amazing!! The architecture and sculptures are beautiful even though they are millions of years old! After wandering around the main circle for a bit, we decided to take a tour of the Basilica Papale di San Pietro in Vaticano, or St. Peter's Basilica. We decided to pay 5 euro and walk all the way to the top to see the view. After hiking up numerous stairs with weird obstacles, we made it to the top. The view was incredible. You could see all of Rome from the top. Despite the rain, we spent about twenty minutes on the top just admiring the architecture, the history, and the paintings! We circled the platform to really take in all 360 degrees of beauty from Rome, then made our way back down the seemingly endless number of steps back to the main chamber of the basilica. We did not do the museum tour or see the Sistine Chapel, but we plan to go back on a warmer and sunnier day to really absorb the history and culture the Vatican offers. We also missed the Pope speaking/blessing people, so we want to go back and see him speak. Here are some pictures of the inside of the Vatican as well as the top view!

Now we are off to Scholars Irish pub again to watch the Bears game! My brother and dad are at the game, hope they don't freeze!!! GO BEARS!!!!!!

Tomorrow is one of our longest days yet, so I hope I get some sleep tonight. We have Food and Media in the morning, then a break, Italian, and then Society and Culture. I hope tomorrow is a fun day of learning!