Chocolate Chip Cookies!

I finally had the time to bake something here! It was a little frustrating trying to find all of the ingredients and using grams and celsius, but I was able to make my Italian roommate an American classic: chocolate chip cookies!

I plan on making her banana bread on Sunday!

Field Studies

My classes abroad have been really great so far! What I love the most about them is all of the field studies we get to go on. This week, instead of sitting in the classroom for 2 hours, I got to go to the Capitoline Museum for my ancient Rome class and the Forum for my art history class. I even had to take a quiz on the Forum, as I was looking out onto the Forum. Pretty cool, eh? They try to get us out of the classroom as much as possible and into the actual heart of the content. Here are a few pictures I was able to take during class:

Foro Romano

Original shewolf with Romulus and Remus

Statue of Marcus Aurelius

Constantine

 I am really enjoying the field studies for my classes! I think I'll enjoy them even more when it's not 90 degrees everyday!

Pompeii, Capri, and the Amalfi Coast

This weekend was so much fun and so eventful! It was nice to get out of Rome for a couple days and get to see a new part of Italy.

The bus left for Pompeii at 7:15 on Friday morning. We arrived there around 11 and had a 2 hour guided tour of Pompeii. We saw the baths, remains of some of the bodies, the main road, and much more.

Mt. Vesuvius

Main forum of Pompeii

After Pompeii, we had a nice lunch at a restaurant really close by. Then we got back on the bus and headed to Sorrento. We checked into our hotel around 4. It was such a nice hotel and my bathroom had a jacuzzi in it! Talk about luxury! I also had an amazing view of the Bay of Naples from my balcony. I took a little nap and then we all had a 3 course meal at the hotel restaurant. I was very adventurous both nights and definitely strayed away from my comfort zone of pizza and pasta. After dinner, we headed into town for some late night gelato.

View from my room

The next morning we had to wake up early again to get on a ferry to go to Capri, an island in the Bay of Naples. We spent around 6 hours there walking around, eating lunch, going to little bakeries, and just looking out onto the Mediterranean. The views were amazing and the water was so green! There were also some lovely gardens that we walked through with the brightest flowers.

After Capri, I came back and rested a little before dinner. We had another three course meal with a different menu, which was nice. I got the risotto and the mackerel. So good!

We had to get up early again the next morning to get on a bus for a tour of the Amalfi Coast. It was a 52 km ride on a very curvy and scary road. Our guide told us that there was a James Bond seen filmed there! I was getting a little car sick to say the least, but the views were gorgeous! There was a bit of a detour because there was a fire near one of the villages we were going to stop in. But we still were able to stop in the town of Amalfi and another other little town for lunch. We toured the cathedral in Amalfi as well as the Cloisters of Paradise. They were both so pretty. After that, we drove back home. 

And that about sums up this weekend's trip! It was really fun, but I'm glad to be back home!

First Week of Classes

My week has been consumed by too many classes to count and too much unhealthy eating to even begin to describe. Pizza for lunch everyday? Not my proudest moment.

BUT this weekend I will be going here:

Amalfi Coast

And to visit Pompeii. So I will have a ton to talk about in a few days!

Trevi Fountain

Yesterday, Marielle and I ventured out to see the Trevi Fountain at night. It was our last hurrah before classes started today. It was so amazing going at night and seeing everything lit up.

We got to the Trevi Fountain and obviously had to throw a coin in for luck. I chose an American penny since it has less value than the euro penny. Hopefully that doesn't devalue my wish!

The first day of classes was fine. I think I'll find them interesting enough and we'll get to go on lots of field trips into the city. My big accomplishment of the day was finding peanut butter in an international foods store! I didn't realize how much I missed it!

Villa Borghese and Piazza del Popolo

I started my day off with a run and made myself an omelet for lunch. Then I convinced my sleeping roommates to get up and go on a Roman adventure with me. We decided to go through Piazza del Popolo to Villa Borghese, which is a huge park in Rome, which houses many galleries and historic villas. We did not actually enter any of these sights, seeing that we're on a tight budget here. But the park was still lovely and really enjoyable. I even got a chance to catch up on my sleep...I feel asleep sitting up on a bench when we took a break from walking.

On the way to the park, we passed the Spanish Steps and then Piazza del Popolo, which was really quite nice. Like all the main piazzas here, there were a few fountains and some nice outdoor restaurants.

We also passed Santa Maria del Popolo, a lovely renaissance cathedral refurbished my Bernini, Raphael, and Fontana, on the way. It was beautiful inside and had some amazing painting on the walls inside.

And here are some pictures from the park:

We walked back (it took us an hour and fifteen minutes) and decided to go out to eat. I ordered pasta with clams. It's a dish I usually wouldn't order, but I was feeling adventurous and it was really good!

Piazza Navona

Went on a run yesterday morning then headed off to Piazza Navona on the way to class. It was a fun spot, but definitely lots of tourists.

I headed to class after and took my Italian quiz, which wasn't too bad. Then we headed out for gelato as a class. I went home and met up with some girls I know later from Richmond for dinner. I ordered pasta, once again. I gotta be a little more adventurous or I'm going to come home ten pounds heavier. I also went out for gelato after dinner. Not a good habit to get into!