Whoops. I haven't blogged in forever. Lots of things have happened... One weekend I travelled to Pompeii, Naples, & Capri (Loved Capri). Took a private boat ride into caves in Capri on St. Patty's Day. The day we got back my parents arrived to visit for two weeks. The next day I had my friend Shelby from UNCW visit for a week during her spring break. She's studying in Ireland. My two friends from high school Rodrigo and Joaquin also came for a couple days. It was so fun having everyone visit. April 5th I turned 21-had dinner with a big group of friends then we went out. Got about an hour of sleep that night before I had to take a bus then a long cruise ride to Greece for the weekend (Easter weekend). So much fun in Greece!! Toga party and booze cruise were the highlights. Then I went back to Rome for a night before I flew to Barcelona. Barcelona is a really cool city, I went with Liz, Rachel, Carolina and Shelby met us there. Then I went back to Rome for a week and the next weekend I went to Ireland to visit Shelby. So awesome, I loved Ireland-but there wasn't as many redheads as I thought. I've stayed the rest of the time in Rome and I actually just helped Claudia get to the airport since she visited me this past weekend. I'm moving out of my apartment on Friday, going to be so sad. Rome is the best place ever! But I can't complain too much because for two weeks I'm traveling to Paris, Stockholm Sweden, Amsterdam, and Berlin before I come back one last night in Rome to get my big suitcase and fly back to JFK on May 24th. This has been the best experience of my life!! Here are some pics...

Pompeii

 Capri

 Boat ride in Capri

 Top of Mt. Vesuvius

 Dad & I in Rome

 Mom, Dad & I in Colosseum

 Shelby & I near top of St. Peters, Vatican

St. Peter's

 Corfu, Greece

 Booze Cruise

 Again

 Shelby & I in Barcelona

 Park in Barcelona

 My street in Rome

 Me in Ireland

 First Guinness (and last)

 Claudia's visit

Here's a typical week of mine in Rome:

Mondays: Wake up, walk (or tram depending if I'm running late) to school, have history of the Italian mafia from 1-2:40, grab pizza, go to culture and society in medieval Rome (ZzzZzzZZzz) from 3-4:40, then go to art and culture in Rome which is my favorite class from 5-6:40. After that, I go to my friends apartment nearby until we meet up with other people for trivia night at Scholar's which is an Irish pub. We always come in last place, but we still get some free liquor for trying! Then we go to Drunken Ship for karaoke/ladies night until it closes at 2.

Tuesdays: Marketing class from 11-12:40, grab pizza, Italian from 1-2:30, walk around, have dinner.

Wednesdays: Same as Monday's but I normally don't go out at night.

Thursdays: Same as Tuesday's but it's Thursday so I go out. 

My favorite restaurant in Rome is Miscellanea. You get bruschetta, pasta, pizza, unlimited wine, desert, and a desert wine all for just 15 euro! Here's Carolina & I there:

This past weekend I went to the Vatican twice. The first time for a field trip; I snuck a picture of the Sistine Chapel. So pretty.

 In front of St. Peter's square (Vatican)

The next day I went back to the Vatican to climb the top of it. I walk by this every time I go to my friends apartment. The Pantheon is awesome. 

 Walking towards the Vatican.

 View from the top.

 Praying.

 My Art & Culture in Rome class took a field trip yesterday (during class hours) to St. Paul's basilica. 

 Sitting by the Trevi fountain at night, it's so relaxing except for those illegal immigrants trying to sell you roses, random crap you don't need, and pictures. GO AWAY.  

School has been going well, I just finished writing a 2 and a half page paper for my medieval Rome class. That's pretty much the only work I've had to do so far. Tomorrow my mafia class is going to tour Parliament. I'll try and update again soon!

Budapest

I went to Budapest this past weekend with 7 other girls. We arrived late Thursday night at our hostel located in Pest. (Pest and Buda are two different cities). The 8 of us just went to bed since we were so exhausted from traveling. We woke up early then walked around Pest by the Parliament before crossing the bridge over to Buda. Here is Parliament:

 Us by a statue:

 The whole time we were at this church we thought it was a castle, it's so pretty.

 All 8 of us in Buda overlooking Pest.

View of Pest from Buda

 Another statue picture. This is outside of Budacastle. 

After seeing most of Buda, we walked over the bridge back into Pest and stopped at this outdoor food market, saw the opera house, etc. We went back to the hostel where we made some friends: a guy from Paris, a guy from Finland (he was my favorite because he bought me eggplant pizza), and a guy from Canada. All 8 of us & them went out to dinner. I got this spicy tomato rice thing. Really good! Then we went out, woke up early on Saturday and went to the great market hall (40 minute walk from our hostel). I got some souvenirs (Dad, Jackie, Emily, Juli, etc....) then I went to the zoo with Carolina while the others went to a church. The zoo seemed a better choice since Rome has thousands of beautiful churches, and the zoo in Budapest is supposed to be one of the best in Europe-didn't disappoint! I pet a giraffe, fed a camel, etc. 

The big group of us all went out to dinner again before going out. We went to a club called Szimpla and it was awesome. We woke up at 9 AM on Sunday since it was our last day. The 8 of us went to the famous Hungarian outdoor bath's, which was so relaxing and fun. After that we went to the Hungarian version of Chipotle before taking a train to the airport and flying back to Rome. I had one of the best weekends ever. Everyone should go to Budapest!

When in Rome

I got to Rome a week ago and I'm in love! I'm so happy I chose to study abroad in Rome, it's my favorite city I've ever been to. My apartment is awesome, it's in Trastevere and I live close to a lot of my friends. Today I'm going to the Colosseum. Here are some pictures, I'll write more later but I've got places to go people to see.

Pantheon

 Spanish Steps

 Via del Corso (Shopping Street)

 Piazza Navona

 Back of the pantehon & an elephant

 Hello up there!

 At our favorite street! (Corso)

 Trevi Fountain

 Hugging the pantheon

Long overdue Venice pictures