Visit to the Colosseum

Today we went to the Colosseum and spent a while walking around admiring this massive structure. We had free tickets left from our Roman forum visit yesterday and decided to go take advantage of the free visit to the symbol of Rome while we had it. Us college students can still be economical you see... We all pretty much split our separate ways and cooked in, which we had pasta with a cheese on the inside, yum. A great day overall!

Culture Shock

Here is a bit of the culture we miss out on in
the states. These Piazzas stay filled almost
at all times of the day with people sitting around
talking, laughing, and sometimes dancing.....


Here we were on our way to the Colosseum
on a street that closes for Sunday only, and
we came across this...

There and Back Again...

Were still walking, and there still aren't bathrooms... modern toilets are yet to be installed in the ancient roman forum, who knew.

Day 3
Today we visited the Campidoglio, Roman forum, and Palatine hill where all the past emporers of Rome had their Palace. We started out with a talk at the Campidoglio, by Michaelangelo and then moved on to an extended stay and lecture at the Ancient Roman Forum (which is apparently where our project for the semester will be held).

We walked up and down, up and down, and up and down again all the stairs that Ancient Rome has available, so needless to say, my feet hurt.

Pantheon Video

Here is a view of the inside of the Pantheon
for those of you feeling left out!

It seems to be running kind of slow, so you
may need to refresh the page to try to get
the entire video.

Bathrooms are a Myth

Apparently Romans do NOT go to the bathroom.....like ever.
We've went over 8 ours of walking and talking and no bathrooms are in sight, nor is it mentioned by any of the professors.


Day 2 in Rome!

Today we went on a tour of the Campus Martius region of Rome, where the Pantheon and Piazza Navona are located. We started from the UoA (University of Arkansas) studio and had a brief orientation followed by a guided tour by our instructor Davide Vitali and archaeologist friend Emilo.

We ate lunch at a pizza stand around the Pantheon for 1.5 euro a slice, and I also got left in the bathroom after lunch and had to catch up with the group after about 15 minutes of wandering around. It was a good introduction to Rome overall and was a fun day!

Apartment Virtual Tour

Here is a little tour of the amazing apartment in which we are living in for the next 2 months! Im a little tired at the time of taking this so don't mid me if I'm looking a little rough! The name of the apartment is natalia del grande 51 by the way and we are apartment 12.

Finally in ROMA!

Today is the first day in Rome! We arrived today at 12:30 p.m. Roman time and got to our apartment in Trestevere around 2 p.m. We took an airport shuttle with all 5 of my arriving crew to our individual places and met the apartment lady that gave us keys and a tour.

THE APARTMENT IS HUGE!!! (pictures will come soon!) I was blown away at how big the apartment is considering the photos we saw of last year, which consisted of our American equivalent of a one bedroom hotel room with kitchenette holding two people per room. Pretty much dorm room all over again.....but not this year!! Our place is WAY bigger than any of my apartments Ive had in auburn. There are 2 other guys living with me and we drew straws to see who gets the one bed room (versus the larger 2 bed room), and I was lucky enough to get the single!

Im all moved in now, which is a relief to not be living out of a suitcase for once. We ate at a small gelato (icecream) shop today with a nice Italian owner named Georgio, who then reccomended a pizzeria to us that all the locals enjoy. We ate there and were impressed at how good the food was, and the house wine was amazing!

Now its time to catch up on some sleep that is much needed for our big day tomorrow!