so a lot has happened since my last post. no drama for those who were hoping for such. that night i walked around the neighborhood just to get a better feel of it and took some pictures to show everyone. i love my camera (named canteloupe but pronounces can-ta-loop-ay) and so ive been taking ridiculous amounts of pictures. in the past ive always felt like i should just take pictures later but then i never remember all the things i wanted to take pictures of. so this time around i always have my camera and am always always always taking pictures. ok so lets start with pictures from the neighborhood.


ok so i thought it was kinda funny that down the block theres a chinese restaurant. you don't find many chinese restaurants here in roma but there happens to be one like right there. weird.


Here is the vespa parking lot outsie of my building. i love vespas and euromullets. unfortunately i do not yet have a picture of the latter.


This is the corner of Corso Trieste (where i live) and via costanza. this is the corner that i turn and then school is about 2 minutes down the road. which makes my walk to school a total of 4 minutes.


this is marinari, the local pasticceria with amazing bread and so much sweet food.


These are the doors to my building. even though theres some tagging on the walls, its actually a really nice building in a really nice neighborhood.

ok so then this weekend. friday and saturday was a lil overnight trip to Assisi and Perugia. Both places were beautiful old medieval towns about 2 hours north of Rome. so friday we arrived at Assisi around noon and had a luxurious lunch at the hotel sole where we were staying. we then took a walking tour of Assisi. the town itself is built around the life and times of St. Francis (Santo Francesco) and St. Clare (Santa Chiara). It was kinda cool cause its very religious and really historical at the same time. like its still a very well preserved medieval town. ok here are some pictures of that.


this is the view of the countryside from the top of the hill in Assisi.


This is the view we had from our hotel window. our hotel was right on the main street in a beautiful 5 storied medieval building.


This is the church of St. Claire. it's a really pretty pink limestone and it was half a block from our hotel. St. Claire's body is actually preserved and on display. Rather creepy if you ask me.


Here's a view of the town from down the hill. It's perched high on the hill and is so well preserved.


This is the church of St. Francis, one of the 1000 places to see before you die. It's actually two churches built on top of each other and then further down below the bottom church is the tomb of st. francis. It's completely covered in frescoes my Giotto and Cimabue but unfortunately pictures of the inside of the church are not permitted.


Here is the monk's courtyard that's off to the side of the church. from here you can clearly see the two different churches built on top of each other.


Me and my neighbor, Anneliese, having dinner at a rooftop garden outside of Assisi.


Emily showing her Asian Pride/Ghetto Trekkiness. Collin is either praying or completely unamused.


wine shots :-D

so saturday morning we departed for perugia where we spent the day and had a wonderful tour. perugia is also a medieval town perched on a different hill with the most beautiful views of the countryside. Perugia (also one of the 1000 places to see before you die) is known for its chocolate (Perugina Cioccolata) . ok here are some pictures.


Emily and me with our hot new fashion accessories. Tourists much?


The medieval fountain that is the one thing that Perugia is most proud of (besides Perugina Cioccolata).


The Palace from the 1300s that unfortunately was closed on Saturday.


Emily and Frieda with the view of the countryside from La Passegiata (one of the 1000 places to see before you die).


Me and my roomie Jessie with the view of the Town from La Passegiata.


me with the view of the town from the market.


Me and three of my favorite girls.

So then we returned to Rome around 5. I signed onto AIM and checked my email and talked to every1 i needed to then showered and then headed out for la notte bianca. so la notte bianca is this big festival in rome where everyone from rome and the surrounding areas head into the city and stay out til 8 am. there were just hundreds of thousands of people getting drunk, people watching, socializing, and enjoying the city. it was an amazing experience for quite a few reasons. first, i got to see all the different parts of the city at night and not feel really sketched out about walking around at night. so we started at the spanish steps and then headed over to the pantheon and then out to piazza navona. My friend lisa's friend lives in the church on Piazza Navona and it had the most amazing view of the square ive ever seen in my life. Ok here are the pictures from last night.


Here's the view of the crowded Spanish Steps from the Hotel Hassler at the top of the steps.


The Church on the top of the Spanish Steps.


This is the view of the fountain from Lisa's friend's window. He lived in the Church right on Piazza Navona and had the most beautiful view of the square I had ever seen. I think that was definitely an experience most people will never get to have in their life.



these two pictures are the view of the square from the same window. I honestly was so mesmerized by the view that I just stood there and looked out the window for like 25 minutes.


this is the church that Lisa's friend lives in. the windows with the lights are the ones we were looking out of. so amazing.

ok so it's sunday here and i'm pretty much a ridonc waste of life. i got up around 2 and then gave money to my roommate to buy my italian textbooks so that i don't have to go buy it myself. it's almost 5 here so im probly gonna shower and get out of my pajamas and maybe go buy some pizza or perhaps cook something for myself. i know this was a long post but its pretty much what ive been doing. hope you enjoyed it :-)