Reggae Circus

This past week, we went to the church of Santa Maria in Trestevere, for art history. Trestevere is a really cool area of Rome. Jill, Danielle and I went back to that general area the following night, to a place called Pepato, and met up with some Italians, and really just a bunch of people from different parts of the world. Its always interesting going out in parts of the world that arent the united states, because they ALWAYS play American pop music from 4-10 years ago. Then, last night, we went to this Reggae Circus, not knowing at all what to expect, but we were excited about it anyway. I was not disappointed. There was a drumline, and people doing tricks with fire (which are both on my hypothetical list of favorite things) and a bunch of girls dressed as jesters dancing. That was just between band entertainment. The bands were pretty good. Despite the serious language barrier between our little group and everyone else, I had a really good time.

Field trips!

So, I have at least two field trips a week. In a fairly strange city where I am unfamiliar with the public transportation system (also, generally public transportation makes me anxious, especially when I'm by myself). And we have to get to these field trip locations by 8:30AM, most of the time by public bus. So, thats a huge step for me. Just getting to the field trips. But usually they are really cool, so when I actually find my way to the class meet up point, I get to see some awesome things. Like the Pantheon, for instance.

And the forum

And this famous statue of the founders of Rome.

I feel like I can totally nerd out, because I'm surrouded by all these familiar/really famous artifacts/buildings all the time. And, between my Rome Sketchbook class and my Art History/Early Rennaissance class, I think my brain is going to explode from all the nerding out i've been doing.

Last week...

So, my daily walk to school ends with me crossing the Tiber. Temple Rome is situated in this cute building, and a princess lives on the top floor. I wish a princess lived at Temple Philadelphia. One of the first days of class, my roommate and I didn't have a whole lot of homework, so we decided to adventure the Villa Borghese gardens. First of all, the Piazza de Popolo is about a two minute walk from school, so we generally end up there before heading anywhere else.

And this guy is usually blowing bubbles for spare change. Its kind of adorable








Anyway, we ended up at the Villa Borguese gardens, which are really pretty in some parts, and other parts are totally not expected.

And this last picture really has nothing to do with anything, its on my walk to/from school, and its really just the saddest looking bike ever.

Umbria!

My first weekend here, we took a trip to Umbria, which is an area in Italy, two hours north of Rome. We spent a few hours exploring the hill town of Todi. Then, we ate a traditional long lunch at a castle

First of all

I've been in Rome for about two weeks at this point. But I know that if I don't keep track of where I go and what I do, I'll regret it at some point. We came to Rome a week before classes started, so that we could get acquainted with the city. We went on a tour, and got to see a little bit of everything...from the spanish steps to the colluseum to the Capuchini Bone Chapel, a church made of human bones, and our tour ended at the trevi fountain.

(I found the photo of the bone chapel online, but the other ones are mine)