Jake Comes to Rome!

Jake came to visit me in Rome this past week and we had an amazing time!! I was so happy that he was able to come :)
He arrived in Rome on Saturday morning and was super jet-lagged. But I followed my dad's advice and didn't let him sleep so that he would adjust to the time difference. That morning we took a walk around my apartment, went to lunch, and then came back and relaxed for a little bit. That evening we went to the Pantheon and walked around there, Piazza Navona,and ended up at the Colosseum which is beautiful at night. We went to dinner in that area and had some delicious pasta.

The next day we walked over to see the Pope speak in St. Peter's Square. Then we went over to the Colosseum and the Roman Forum. We also went to the Vittorio Emmanuele monument, which has the tomb of the unknown soldier on it. We went to the top of the monument which gave us an amazing panoramic view of Rome.

The next day I had class, so Jake walked around the city and then we met up and ate lunch on the Spanish Steps. I had a midterm that afternoon so I sat there and studied which was really nice. Then I took my test, we came home and relaxed, and then I brought Jake to the train station because he went to Budapest for 2 nights to visit his brother Zach. It ended up being good timing because I had to finish the rest of my midterms.
On Wednesday afternoon I was finally done with my tests and Jake landed back in Rome that night. The next morning we went over to the Vatican Museums and St. Peter's Basilica. Then we went back over to the Pantheon area and walked across the Tiber River to Trastevere for dinner. We had a great meal-I had cacio e pepe, which is a Roman dish that is basically spaghetti with butter, parmigiano cheese, and pepper.
On Jake's last day, Friday, we went for a picnic in the beautiful park, Villa Borghese. The park is a lot like Central Park in that it's a giant park smack in the middle of the city. It's beautiful, and you can rent those multi-person bikes and rowboats which looked like a lot of fun! Next we went to the Capuchin Crypt, which is a church filled with thousands of human bones of Capuchin friars. It was really creepy yet really interesting at the same time. After that, we went back to the Trevi Fountain and then to the National Museum of Rome, the Palazzo Massimo. The museum is filled with tons of interesting and famous Roman artifacts, yet it was completely empty, which i find to be kind of sad. We had a good time there, though!

Next we went out to a nice dinner, went home and woke up early for his flight this morning. I had an amazing week and I'm really sad it's over, but I'm so happy that Jake got to come.

BUT i leave tomorrow morning for my spring break to Barcelona, Vienna, and Prague and I'm sooo excited I can't believe it's actually here! I'll have a super long update about my break next week!

Ciao until then! Love you all!

Finally...

So I have absolutely no time to update my blog these past few weeks...but I guess that's a good thing, right? I have been keeping busy and have been having a great time. I'll take you through a quick summary of what I have been up to.

The weekend of February 17th-19th I went to Paris to meet my family. We spent Friday and Saturday in Paris and went to Disneyland on Sunday. It was very crowded because French schools had off for a few weeks. But it was really cool to see the Disney magic in a different culture and language!

After a few days in Disneyland, my mom, dad, and Billy came to Rome for the rest of week. We did the regular tourist-y things, like the Roman Forum and the Vatican. On that Friday we went to Pompeii which was really cool. All of the ruins are extremely well preserved due to the ashes. The eruption of Mt. Vesuvius is something we have learned about in school since elementary school, so it was awesome to finally see it in person!

After my family left that Saturday, I headed straight to the train station to meet people from my school for an overnight trip to Umbria, which is another region in Italy. We spent the first part of the day bird watching at a WWF reserve. Most of you kno that birds are my favorite animals in the world, but it was actually peaceful to observe them from very, very far away!! Next we went to a restaurant for lunch which served us a ton of food. We then visited an old castel in the town, but because we were all so ful it was difficult to pay attention to the tour guide (oops!) Next we got back on the train and traveled to the small town of Orvieto. That night we went to one of the oldest wineries in Umbria and learned a lot about the history of wine in the region. We also had a tasting of a red wine and a white wine along with some appetizers which were delicious! After dinner, a bunch of us went to a pub in the town and had a few more drinks. The town was so small and quiet and it was a nice break from the busy Roman city life! The next morning we went to see the amazing cathedral in Orvieto, did some shopping and then returned to Rome.

This past Wednesday Allie came to Rome! I was so excited to have a visitor and we had a lot of fun! I took her around the city, we did some shopping, and ate some delicious food. On Saturday we also visited the Villa Adriana in Tivoli which is a villa that belonged to an ancient Roman emperor who wanted to isolate himself from the city. It was beautiful and very relaxing.

Today we went to the Vatican for the Pope's blessing!! Fist he said a prayer in Italian, and then he made some announcements/shout-outs in German, Spanish, English, and Italian. During his announcement for the English-speakers, he welcomed all of the students visiting from the United States (me!!!) It was an awesome experience and I plan on going every Sunday possible!!

I promise I will get better at updating this blog! Love you all! xoxoxo