Around Italy!

I apologize for not posting yesterday but it was a crazy day! I was raining all day so that made for an interesting day as well. We started out the morning with more orientation here at Bernardi and then we walked to the Angelicum and had more orientation there. That lasted to about 12M and then we went to mass there at the Ang.

Half of us already had our Italian class Thursday so we were able to leave after that but the other half unfortunately had to stick around and wait until three for their class. Those of us who didn't have to wait set out to find lunch. Eight of us went one direction adn the other six went to do their own thing. I bet you can't guess what we ate...PIZZA! My most favorite thing! It is so goo here! You can't even imagine how much better it is than back in the states...its REAL pizza! :)

After we all had lunch we went and visited the Basilica of St. Mary Major. It was gorgeous! I can't even explain to you! In that church we saw the tomb of Pope Pius the V and we believe that maybe St. Catherine is buried somewhere there too. I need to find out the details on all that.

After staying there for a while we realized it would be a lot easier if we broke up into even smaller groups so four of us moved on while the other four stayed and looked around more and then went off to do their own thing.

We walked all over Rome that day! We saw so much! We were able to stop by the Coliseum, the Roman Forum, the Pantheon, Piazza Venizia (which they call the Wedding Cake because it looks like one big wedding cake), and more churches. Even though it rained all day we were able to do so much and the rain didn't bother us at all...it was actually kind of fun.

When we saw all this we started to head back home and ran across a cute little pizzeria and wine bar. We couldn't pass it up :) So we stopped and had an amazing bottle of white wine and pizza. It felt really good to just take a break from walking all day too. Then we made a quick stop at the supermarket for a few things and headed back to Bernardi.

We got back and took showers and got into dry clothes and then had an amazing Italian dinner. It was tortellini with white sauce, veal, carrots and green beans, salad with vinegar and olive oil dressing and dessert! It was delicious! I have no problem eating any of the food over here it is so good!

After dinner we hung out for a bit and then went out to a pub (about 12 of us) and had a drink and then came back and played a fun crazy game of spoons until like 1 in the morning. We headed to bed but then some of the girls ended up staying awake talking til 230a which was crazy but it was fun!

Today (Saturday) we had a free day with nothing scheduled. We woke up this morning then and went to breakfast and headed to the Vatican to go to mass at St. Peters. Unfortunately we got there and the line to get in was wrapped all the way around St. Peters Square so we turned around and trecked back to Bernardi. By the time we got back it was 12M so we decided to venture out to find pizza ;) All this was also in the rain! It was ok though. After pizza we took a quick stop at the supermarket again and then headed back to Bernardi where everyone has pretty much been lounging all day. Some of us watched a movie and took naps, but it has been a pretty low key day for the most part. It felt good to just relax though.

Well, that is all I have for now, but if you want any additional details on my travels just let me know and I would be happy to share :)

Arrivederci and Ciao!