Yesterday I arrived in Roma! It is unbelievable! I am in such disbelief that I am actually here! My flight was on air L'Italia which was in Terminal one and I had some trouble finding it. I had to ask three people for directions. But I eventually found it! When I arrived there there was a security guard that asked me if I was going to Munich, and of course i replied no. And he proceeded to say "are you sure" to which I replied yes and then he replied, "Well you look very German, so well we will see!" I am not sure how I feel about this! Meanwhile I was on the phone with mom.  The flight was very long and I barely slept! But I did watch Midnight in Paris, it was very good and it got me into the mood of being abroad. I was sitting next to a German man and he was very sweet but I of course struggled to hear what he was saying. But he was going to a small area near Florence. On the plane I got, fish with veggies, bread, fruit, and some sort of ham stuff. Then for the morning we got, a hot croissant, yogurt, coffee, Milano cookies which I dipped in the coffee.  So once I arrived I got my room all situated and then I just wandered around with one of the girls I flew with. We are just down the street from the Vatican! It is crazy! It is just so hard to belief that I have seen that in so many pictures and there it was right in front of me. And then I got my first gelato! It was called Tre Tre and I got teremisu gelato (But according to Max ...our  leader... it was not legit gelato!) Then I came back and all my roommate were here! They are amazing and soo sweet and nice! Then it was a girl named Mariel's birthday! So we went out to dinner to Taverna Giulia. We all got wine and pasta! And they brought us out a pizza and none of us ordered for that! And I am pretty sure they just knew that we didn't know what we were doing and charged us for it. But It was delicious. But the problem is...you have to pay for water! Yikes! But the good news is that there are water fountains everywhere with just natural water flowing from them! So crazy! But anyway for Mariel's birthday they brought us all out almond cookies (they smelled like dog food!) And then we were going to go out but we were wayyyy too tired! So we all came home and relaxed and then it was bed time!
I slept like a rock though! I was so tired because I didn't nap when I got here! But also our room is basically a cave. There was only one widow and it leds to a ally to needless to say it was super dark!

Today, May 11, was such a long day!! We got up around 10:30 and we returned to the apartment around 7:30! Talk about busy!  And we walked all around because the buses were on strike until 5! First we walked as a group to Hosteria Pizzeria "Da Vito e Dina" and we all shared our dishes. We had lasagna, spaghetti, ravioli with white sauce and ravioli with spaghetti sauce, and carbonara! They were of course delish! And we all got to split dessert which included teramasu, flan, creme and rasberry, and fruit! My favorite was teramesu...it had espresso on top! After lunch we walked to Lady of the Water which I am pretty sure is in the Boghese gardens (which seems like the most perfect place to have a relaxing afternoon!) After that we went to the Gallaria Borghese...which was the Borghese families house for just their artwork (how the heck does someone have money for just a house for artwork!!) We had a wonderful tour guide and unfortunately I was not able to bring my camera in there but I got to see work by Bernini including Apollo and Daphine, Pluto and Prosepina, and a David (the one with the stone)! And I saw some work by Raphael! I was soooo happy to see work of Raphael in real life! After my long project on him my sophomore year of high school! Then after the Gallaria we walked to the Trevi Fountain...along the walk we saw the walls that established the boundaries of Rome in the olden days and the U.S. Embassy (hopefully I won't have to go there!). And the strangest thing...in the middle of the sidewalk are restaurants with glass surrounding them! crazy! But back to the Trevi Fountain! We learned all about the tossing in of the coins (you have to do it with your right hand and through it over your left shoulder...one coin means you will come back to Rome. two coins means you will marry an Italian man. and three coins means you will marry an Italian man in Rome) So of course we all tossed in our coins! We were kind of rushed for time there so I think we will end up going back! And it was packed with tourists...so we all held on to our purses tightly! The Trevi fountain was much larger than I thought it would be...wow! And I learned that the four statues at the top are representing the four seasons. After the Trevi fountain we walked to the Pantheon. We got to see the huge dome and the circle! And Raphael's tomb was in there! So obviously I liked that! After the Pantheon we walked to Piazza Navona. I really liked this area! There were tons of artists painting and there is a huge fountain by Bernini that has huge sculptures. And each sculpture represents a large river...like one represented the Nile...and I can't remember the rest. But the funny thing was that across the way there is a church and the sculptures on the church that were done by the enemy of Bernini and all of the sculptures are sculpted so that they are not looking at Bernini's fountain. One of the statues on the church was St. Agnes (so naturally I thought of Mom). Then one of my favorite parts...the GELATO! according to Max, we went to a legit place today called Frigidarium. I got crema and raspberry and of course like everything else it was delicious! Then we took the pickpocket bus (64) back to the Residence! What a fun day!!