We left Rome on an 8:00 a.m. train for Venice. 4 hours and 22 minutes later we arrived in Venice. It truly is an amazing sight to see the canals of Venice. We arrived at our hotel via a private water limo and relaxed for a few minutes. Then we went on a tour of the city. When we got to Piazza San Marco my professor told us that we were standing in the most beautiful square in the world, and she was right. The palaces on the sides and Basilica di San Marco at the end creates this beautiful [View Full Entry]

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Caitlin and I booked a flight out from Rome Flumicino to Budapest Ferighy leaving Friday at 8:00 a.m. and coming back on Monday morning at 6:00 a.m. (so that we could make it back for Italian class). Well our friends, Ali and Jessalyn booked a flight out Thursday night, but they missed it so they switched to our 8:00 a.m. flight. Now we had to be at the airport by 6:30, which meant we had to leave at 5:45. Francesco, one of the heads of the program, recommended that we not take the train at that early hour because it [View Full Entry]

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In Europe, Daylight savings ends on October 28th (at 2 a.m.). At 8 we were supposed to meet to go to the train station. Well… I had a bit of a problem setting back the clock. You see I went and changed the time on my blackberry (which doubles as my alarm clock) and I set it back an hour. I set my alarm for 7:25 and went to sleep. Well come the morning I am awoken to a pounding on my door and my friend Ricky yelling, “Olivia we have to go, what are you doing?!??!” Well needless to say [View Full Entry]

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Well you know I’ve been having an amazing time if I have not updated this in forever! I am sorry for keeping you all in the dark, I just have been enjoying myself so much here. I love Europe, Italy, and even more Rome. After Barcelona my next weekend trip was to Florence. It is only an hour and a half by train from Rome so we woke up Friday morning at like 7 and left at 8 for Termini train station. We arrived to Florence to a huge high school strike… no no not a school strike like you [View Full Entry]

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Hi all!!!! What can I say about Barcelona? It is an incredible city! Our trip started out on Thursday evening when we (Monica, Caitlin, and I) walked down to the metro stop closest to us (Circo Massimo) in the rain, it was so much fun walking down the Aventine Hill in the rain with my weekend bag (Le Sportsac with little puppies, kittens, and ducks all over it), my purse, and my bright yellow umbrella... to say the least we, or rather I, could not have looked any more like an American college student if I tried. The Metro system in [View Full Entry]

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Buongiorno, Sorry it has taken me a couple of days to write my blog on Pompeii, Capri, and Napoli, but I was so tired from the weekend I needed to rest! On Friday morning a double decker bus picked all 71 of us up at 7:00 a.m. and we drove straight to Pompeii. Well.. actually we did stop at a rest stop. Now these rest stops do not have bathrooms like we are used to, they have toilettes that have no seat and no toilette paper (I luckily brought some Kleenex in my purse). So pretty much the bathroom was my [View Full Entry]

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Oh my goodness! Yesterday, September 18, we went to the Colosseum, the Pantheon, and to Valentino's exhibition (where there was a monument to Augustus inside as well). When we arrived to the Colosseum I was able to get some good pictures in between downpours of rain. What an incredible building. It is/was a piece of functional art. I can only imagine what it may have looked like in its entire splendor! The location of countless numbers of sacrifices, murders, and incredible battles! The walls of the Colosseum were very wet and I was leaning against a wall with my elbow when [View Full Entry]

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Sunday, September 16, I went with Caitlin and Monica to this huge market in Trastevere and walked around there (great fake bags and glasses), but I need to work on my Italian more before I can really haggle the prices down. Then we went for a walk around the Pantheon (only outside) and just strolled around Rome before heading back to the convent. Dinner at the convent was great (pasta, pizza, eggs, greenbeans, salad, and fruit)! We were all so hungry. Today, September 17th I have had Italian and my Intro. to Roman Art course, next I have my Global Problems [View Full Entry]

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Wow... today was incredible! We woke up and went to Ostia Nord to the beach. We hopped on the train in Rome by the pyramid (right after we got pastries for breakfast)... it was like a 15 minute train ride. We did a little poking around the cute beach town to find out where to go and then hopped on a 5-minute bus to the beach. At the beach we rented three chairs and an umbrella and just relaxed on the beach. This beach was incredible. The sailboats were amazing on the water and the hum of Italian conversation mixed [View Full Entry]

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Hello again! Wednesday I slept in a bit and it made a huge difference! I feel a lot better. After my Italiano class I went down to Testaccio, there is a huge outdoor market there everyday it is almost like a carnival flea market kind of experience except everyone is talking to you in Italiano to get you to purchase their stuff. I bought a gift for a friend and headed back up the hill to Aventino (where the convent is). I did some homework and just waited around until 7:30, when we took a bus to a gym to check [View Full Entry]

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