Day 8

---

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 with water sounds was great! There were plenty of topless women, but I could not work up the courage to join in this European tradition. We got an ice-cream cone as a snack and then headed back to the train. We took the train two stops back towards Rome to Ostia Antica, the harbor city of ancient Rome. It was really amazing. The tombs, underground passages, amphitheater, and other ruins were beautiful. We then went to dinner back in Rome by the convent.
My favorite part about Italy so far are the trees. These trees are amazing. When I look at them I am in awe...maybe I am crazy, but they just scream that I am not in America anymore. I could not help photograph about a million of them!
It is just so beautiful here. I am so excited to be in Europe! I have wanted to come here for so many years and now it is surreal that I finally am. Well I am exhausted from the busy day and am going to hop in bed and watch some American t.v. shows online.

Molto amore,
Olivia

P.S. Here is a link to more photos, I will be updating this regularly!

http://community.webshots.com/user/oliggio/

---