"All I know is I'm wet, I'm hungry, and I'm lost..."

So..another exciting and adventurous week here in Italy.

Pictures slowly being uploaded at: http://s478.photobucket.com/albums/rr141/amykroll/

Warning: This is going to be a long post!!

My classes are alright. I was honestly expecting a lot more from these classes and am very disappointed in them. My Italian is coming along, although I am not quite comfortable enough to ask questions in Italian. Hopefully that will come along soon.

My world religions class is basically a review of everything I know already. My professor is really nice, but I dont she is actually a religious studies professor, and I feel like she just kind of presents basic surface information. But I am the only religious studies major in there, so maybe its new for many people.

My religion and women class seems exciting, but kind of jumbled. She jumps from random topics to random topics. But I am excited for our research paper. We could pick any subject having to do with religion and women and I decided I wanted to research the Islamic traditions specifically in Africa where they still practice female circumcision. I am very excited to get started on that.

My history of the mafia class is alright, not much to update in that except we are watching the Godfather II and I have no idea what is going on in the movie so far. Haha. My environment conservation class is the worst class I have ever had in my entire life. Basically, she stands up in front of the class, and reads really long statements about different decisions and the environment groups around the world wrote. It is the longest 2 1/2 hours of my life, and I dread going to class. Next week we get to watch a documentary, so hopefully it will be better. We also are doing a research project in there, and I think I am going to choose how poverty and pollution are correlated.

Now on to the good stuff: ROMA!!!

This weekend Caitlin, Faith and I went to Rome. And boy was it an adventure.

We left Friday morning and walked to the train station. Once we got there, we walked around like idiots trying to figure out what train we were supposed to be on....our ticket basically said nothing on it besides that we were going from Florence to Rome. So after asking some rude people, we finally met a nice little couple who explained how the train system worked to us.

So we sat on the train for almost four hours, and when they announced that we were pulling in twenty minutes late to the Rome station on the speakers, we figured...well we are here. We hopped off the train and started walking away. When I saw the guy that was sitting by us on the train asking somebody something and running back onto the train, I got a little nervous but figured he must have got off wrong. But as it turned out of course, we were wrong. We had gotten off at a Rome station that was almost spelled the same as the actual station we were supposed to get off. So here we were stuck in Rome, knowing nothing of what to do or where we were. I personally found it hilarious!

So after asking around, we learned that we needed to buy a metro ticket and take it to our the actual train station we were supposed to be at so that we could board the bus that would take us to our hostel. We boarded the metro (which was really sketchy and I hope to never take it again). Caitlin, Faith and I liked shoved ourselves into the corner with our backpacks touching the wall, so that nobody could steal from us because we have heard really horrible things about the metro. We were only on it for like 5 minutes, but it felt like eternity especially with the creepy man just standing there leering at us and looking at us up and down. I was very grateful to get off of there.

We got outside to be greeted by a very heavy rainfall. Luckily, we had our umbrellas. So we walked around trying to figure out where the bus was that we needed to take. We knew the number, we just could not find it. I think i must have asked about 10 people before we finally found it. So we got on the bus, and hoped for the best. A very nice Italian women tried to help us (since she knew no English she wasn't very helpful, but incredibly nice and kept just smiling and nodding her head at us). Then a man helped us figure out when to get off. So after getting off the bus, we were once again lost as to how to get to our hostel. Of course we found a nice Italian who directed us there. So ten hours later, we arrived, soaking wet, hungry and a little bit crabby to our hostel.

After getting there, we put our stuff away and navigated our way to our friend Billy's house, which was by the way, on the other side of Rome. (Our hostel was not even on the map it was so far away). So we learned the bus system fast. We took a couple bus, then a tram, and walked around (soaking wet again) to Billy's apartment. Let me tell you, we were not happy campers. Our four hour trip had turned into ten long, wet hours. Billy goes to St. Norbert with us, and he had visited us with his roommates the weekend before. We basically just sat around and talked until we decided that we were exhausted and wanted to go back to the hostel. On the way home we stopped to treat ourselves to a chicken kabob and a mcflurry from mcdonalds!! It was a magnum bar mcflurry and tasted really different, but pretty good. Then we took the bus back to our hostel, and were thinking how great we were doing. As the bus started to empty, and we pulled into a alley-like road, we realized we were the only people left on the bus and the bus driver had turned off the bus. So, a little nervous, Caitlin asked the bus driver what was happening. Turns our he was just taking a thirty minute break. So we just sat there, and then got back to our hostel an hour and a half later.

We got back to the hostel, announced that we hated Rome and passed our in our beds.

The next morning we decided to get an early start to see Rome. We took the bus to the Vatican and St. Peter's Basicila. We didnt go inside the Vatican because we are going for a tour in November, but saw the outside and the Basicila. It was amazing. Then we walked around near the Vatican and stopped in a few stores. I got a new finger rosary (Andrea bought me when she was here, but it broke) and a Mother Theresa pendant. We walked down a beautiful little street and had a small lunch. Then we took another bus to the Colosseum. Immediately, some gladiators ran up to me and were like take a picture with us. So totally taken aback, Faith snapped some pictures of me, and then some more gladitors came and took pictures with all of us. Of course nothing is free, and they said "5 Euro". But we figure the pictures were worth it. We walked around, and met a hilarious British guy who we ended up talking with for about 30 mintues. Of course his ultimate goal was to take one of us out, (haha), but we had a nice talk and he told us some great places to go. So we bought a ticket and went to the Roman Forum and the Colosseum.

The Roman Forum was amazing. We walked through it for about two hours...it was incredibly beautiful. Hopefully I will have a link to photobucket with my pictures. Then we went to the Colosseum and walked around for a bit. It was wonderful. Then we walked to the Trevvi Fountain, which I feel was a little overrated just because there were so many tourists. So we threw a coin in, made a wish and walked to a gelato place. We ate the most amazing gelato ever. I have nuetella, berry, and mango flavored. Then we decided maybe we should eat dinner. So we were persuaded to eat at a restaurant , and we actually had our first real Italian meal. We had a bottle of sparlking wine, and then I had bruschetta, and then homemade pasta with sasuage and mushrooms. (oma, you would have loved this meal!!) Our waiter was really nice, and actually invited us to hang out later at some of the local places!

We went to Billy's and hung out for a while. We actually played this word game which made me so crabby because I couldnt figure it out and it was making me incredibly crabby!! We went out to this dance club that was supposed to be really fun, but when we got there it was a mostly a thirty year old crowd and no one was dancing. So we ended up leaving and trying to find a night bus home. Which was another adventure! The club was cool if there would have been people dancing. IT was outisde and there was a pool. Very classy and nice.

So we packed up early, and left for the train station the next morning. It took a nice long four hours, and we finally got home.

I was super excited to go home to Florence. Rome was nice, but to visit. I am glad I am not living there. I was actually homesick for Florence. The only thing I have been homesick for so far just happens to be to Florence!!

So it was a weekend of adventure and fun. We got lost, had fun, and I had a lot of firsts.

I had my first real train ride, my first bus ride, my first time being alone in a foreign country with no one helping me, my first metro ride, my first real Italian meal, my first picture with gladiators, and my first hostel!

Sorry this has been long! I'm sure there will be many more adventures to write about soon. As for now, I have to go read my Cosa Nostra book about the Mafia!

Ciao!!