Ελλάδα-Italia 2012: When In Rome...

"When in Rome" might be cliche, but after being here for about 3 weeks we are really starting to adapt to the Italian culture. I've got the crazy bus schedule down, I know which restaurants to avoid, and the difference between the many famous piazzas. Unfortunately we only have about one month left of our awesome semester. But I can't think about that quite yet. Here's a recap of what I've been up to since my last post.

Monday, Tuesday
-Had our first field trip with our art professor Paulo. He took us to some of Rome's oldest sites to study Roman architecture and how it influenced the renaissance. It was difficult to keep up with Paulo and his speed walking for four hours, but I definitely learned a lot.
-We found a gelato shop that has over 150 flavors. So far I've had 8. Only 142 to go.
-Josh and I have been experimenting more and more with cooking. We've already cooked way more in Rome that we ever did in Greece. Our specialty is Super Spicy Spaghetti, or SSS. It's basically spaghetti with tomato sauce that has hamburger and red peppers to give it some heat. We even tried baking cookies from scratch. They didn't look very good, but everyone said they were delicious. Nowhere near Grandma's though.

Wednesday, Thursday
-Our history professor, Jan, took us through some of the sites of the Republican age of Rome. It's pretty amazing how knowledgable he is.
-Our first Theology class was spent at the church of San Clemente. This was definitely one of the coolest things I've seen in Rome thus far. The church consists of three levels. The the basement is the foundations of a Roman home from the 1st Century. The second floor is a Christian church from the 4th Century. And the top floor is another church from the 14th Century. We were led through each by a great Irish Dominican monk named John.
-Kayla's mom and two aunts were visiting, so we took them to see some of the sites of Rome and had dinner near Piazza Navona.

Friday
-The whole group took the metro out of the city to the Appian Way, the original road into ancient Rome. We all rented bikes and went on a bike tour led by two guides. It was a beautiful day for riding and exploring some ancient ruins.

Saturday
-Saturday began our class trip to the Bay of Naples and its surrounding area. We took a three hour bus ride and arrived at the site of Pompeii, the famous city that was buried in 79 A.D. when Mount Vesuvius erupted. After getting lunch at the site, we were led through the city by a guide. We all thought this was the coolest ancient site we had been to. When we were in Greece, the ancient sites were interesting, but you definitely needed to use your imagination to understand what they looked like back in the day. Not the case with Pompeii. The ash covered the city and left it mostly in tact. We were able to walk through houses with multiple levels, paintings on the wall, and tiles on the floor. It really made me understand how elegant and advanced Roman life was.
-After Pompeii we took a bus south to our hotel in Sorento. Sorento is a beautiful town on the coast. It's known for its many lemon-flavored products. After checking in the hotel, we explored the town and bought some lemon sweets and drinks. We were provided a nice dinner by the hotel.

Sunday
-We drove back north to the city of Naples. Our first stop in the city was the Archeological Museum. The museum houses most of the important artifacts and sculptures from Pompeii. We saw many cool pieces of art as well as everyday items and tools.
-After the museum, we were given a few hours of free time in the city. Naples is most famous for its pizza, so we all sought out the best pizzerias. We waited an hour and a half at one restaurant before leaving. We finally found a small place that wasn't too crowded. The pizza definitely lived up to its reputation.
-We left Naples in the late afternoon and returned to Rome.

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday
-We again had field trips in art and history. This time we explored a renaissance villa, as well as the parade route of the Triumphant Procession.
-A few of us checked out the Villa Borghese, Rome's biggest park. It was a really nice area of the city with great views.

Mom and Dad arrive in Rome tomorrow and I'm really excited to see them and take them around the city. We are also heading to Florence for a few days next Thursday.

That's all for now, pics below

Ciao, Dan