Saturday I went to the Colosseum and Forum with all of my classmates, and it was something I really can't put in to words. I stopped and couldn't really even comprehend how old these buildings are, and how they were ever possible built. I took my first Roman bus without a tour guide, and found my new favorite Pizza place by Piazza Navona where I ate the most amazing 4 euro pizza in my life, I'm sure it will be outdone many a time over my time here, lets be serious.
Sunday we took a day trip to Tivoli, a small town about an hour north of Rome, and toured Villa D'Este, the summer residence of a former Cardinal. There are over 500 fountains on the property, and we had an amazing tour guide that made all of the difference, she was an archeologist, and was able to show us how the property has changed since it was built over 2000 years ago, then we had lunch in a restaurant that was super creepy at first, but we were told to only have 5 tables and now held our group of 200 because they kept discovering and excavating rooms that they found out were crypts below a church directly above. That was an experience to say the least.
I had my first classes yesterday, My Italian class was a comedy of errors as everyone in a 102 class struggled to understand our native speaking Italian professor with limited English- It will be an interesting semester for sure. My second class I've had was Values Based Leadership, which is an elective I'm taking that seems amazing. My professor is the director of the Rome Center, and is interesting in his own right, his name is Emilio Iodice. He's worked for 5 administrations in the White House, he was in the top ranks of the diplomatic core, and is considered one of the most decorated officers in American history, has been knighted in Italy and Spain. Essentially he is crazy, and there are only 6 of us in the class, it is going to be an amazing exploration of leaders of the past, taking positives and negatives from each of them and applying them to ourselves.
Aside from school I have SIDE TRIPS SIDE TRIPS SIDE TRIPS planned. This weekend I am going to Castera/Solerno/Sorrento as my last "official" Loyola orientation trip.
I booked a trip for Istanbul for the weekend of February 3rd, and will be residing in Roma for the weekend of my Birthday, it just seems fitting. The weekend after that, I am going to Firenze, which will be cool.
The trip I am most excited about is my spring break trip I just booked is to TUNISIA March 2nd-11th. Tunisia is a place I'll never have a chance to go to again, and it is an optional study trip organized by the program so I will be with my SLA's (like study abroad RA's) and a professor and tour guide that study the area so I can get the most out of it. It is going to be an amazing experience for sure.
Other than that I still have to go down to the Piazza and buy full size toiletries and do some laundry, and you know, buy books for my classes, all of that just seemed so much less important than making friends and booking trips, you know?
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