Week 3

9:00 am

Early morning today! Margaret's family is going on a Mediterranean cruise this weekend so she had an early train this morning... she is going to meet them for the night - what will I do without my companion? Maybe I'll be able to survive on my own for the 24 hours she'll be gone. Only maybe. So it turns out Rome isn't as big as I thought... last night my friends are I were walking around an area called Campo di Fiore. We're standing outside talking to each other, and I hear someone call my name. Turn around and who do I see but Mary Rabun! For those of you who don't know, Mary's one of my best friends from high school. I knew she was going to be in Rome this weekend, but I hadn't talked to her yet, and we just happened to bump into her! Needless to say, my new friends got to see a very excited Corinne. Small world. Besides that, my week has been fairly low key. The other day, Margaret and I woke up with no plans for the day, so we decided to just start walking around. We walked in an area that we had never been to before, and came across a huge, beautiful fountain on a hill that over looks the city of Rome. I asked my art history teacher about it, and he said that the fountain was used to bring water into the city from the countryside and fill all the fountains within the city. He told me that it was a beautiful place to go at sunset because "the city turns gold." Will I be returning there soon? Without a doubt. How cool is it that I can just step outside my door and find a place like that? Yesterday in my art history class, we talked about the Sistine Chapel for FOUR hours. Don't get me wrong, it was incredibly interesting to learn about all the insane details of the ceiling and the Last Judgement, but 4 hours was a little lengthy. Now that I know a little more about the actual paintings and the reasoning behind them, I can't wait until my class gets to visit the Sistine next Thursday! I'm very thankful that I get to take this class, and as my teacher says, not act like a typical tourist and "pivot around" the artwork staring, not knowing what you're looking at. We're planning to stay in Rome this weekend - everyone is starting to get sad because we're into the second half of our session, and no one wants to leave, because we've grown to love Rome too much! I think we will have an exploration day today - the best way to discover the "hole in the wall" places in Rome that you wouldn't normally think to visit - and go to the beach for the day tomorrow! I'm excited to see another beach and compare it to Capri - I'm sure there will be no comparison, but hey, the beach is the beach. In Italy. I can't complain. Until next time! Love ya'll!

Corinne