Week 1

Week one was very interesting. It was hot majority of the time, and there are way too many idiots on this trip. I went to the Forum everyday this week- I hope I don't have to go again for at least a few days.

Highlights: Euphronios Krater at the Villa Giulia, Pope John Paul II's tomb, Necropolis underneath St. Peter's, and Orvieto.

I got to go the the American Academy in Rome with the grads and Nick & Justin. It was a great. The taxi ride to Termini was also fun.

We went out for the night on Thursday- had a Gin Limonsoda- thought it was going to be good- I was wrong. The plan is to stick with the wine. There was also some interesting conversations that night- religious conversation- Isn't that one of the topics that you shouldn't discuss with people?

Classes are about to begin for the week- then Venice for the weekend. I don't want to leave Europe.

Talked to Justin (my advisor) about my thesis ideas- don't feel as stressed, but still quite nervous. I'm glad that Shannon is working with him as well.

Can't wait to sweat more tomorrow!

Classes

Well today was the first day of classes. They went well, but it was soo hot outside. Everyone in Rome was talking about the high temperatures. It's not supposed to cool down until Wednesday. Guess who gets to go out again in the heat and sun- Me. Me with my Snow White skin. Luckily our bags have arrived, and I can coat myself with the sunscreen.

Today we went into the catacombs of Saint Sebastiano and Saint Callisto. It was really interesting, and it was great to cool down after being in the sun. I also went to the Forum Romanum. Erin and I had to hold up the umbrella to keep from turning into crispy critters. Thankfully I did not burn. Tonight was our first meal as a group. It was way too much food, but it was delicious. I've heard that they serve veal quite a lot. I can't wait for that. Mmmm, baby cow.

Tomorrow I have to venture out into the heat.

Frankfurt

Well, Frankfurt was loads of fun. Especially the last night. We thought that we were going to have a relaxing evening and then head to the hotel for sleep, but we were wrong. We went to dinner at an Irish Pub- 2 army guys bought us drinks, and we talked to them for a while. Then as we were leaving the pub, Shannon was stopped by some Irish guys. Then they bought us drinks. When they left, we decided to stay at the pub to have more drinks and see where the night would take us. Erin bought a round of Strongbow- and an Irish guy helped her bring over the drinks. The drinks were to help us to get on stage to sing karaoke. We talked to the second group of Irish guys. Later we had to move to another section of the bar because they were closing parts down. Keith and Sean (the Irishmen) bought us shots of Baby Guinness (Bailey's and Kahlua). The night progresses- I end up attracting the attentions of Keith- his accent was to die for. Well, I had enough Baby Guinness to get up on stage with Erin, Jessica, and Sean to sing "I Love Rock n' Roll". Shannon would not sing :-( We also took turns learning an Irish jive (not sure if that was it). I was not so good at the dancing. Night continues- the army guys make another appearance. Erin had two guys competing for her attentions- Austin (army guy) and Sean (Irish guy). We ended up closing the bar (at 4 am!) Our flight was at 11 am the next day! In the end it was totally worth it. We got in a taxi (and my German is surprisingly awesome when I'm drunk). and I was able to get us home. Shannon and I ended up talking to two guys. One German/American and then another American. The German- Chris was totally hot. And I could speak to him in German- and he said my German was awesome! Yay me! The other, Tom, was a Buckeye- that was no good. I ended up losing my voice. We paid for it on our trip to Rome though.

We flew Malev Hungarian Airlines. Our connecting flight was in Budapest. I fell asleep for the 1st flight, but I heard it was awful. I had a nice little nap. We got off the plane only to find out that our flight to Rome was on last call, and we had maybe 10 minutes to get to the gate. We made it, but our bags did not. The bags were still in Budapest when we went to the lost bags kiosk. The guy was very nice and told us that they would get here the next day. We found out today that our bags are indeed in Rome, but they will not be getting to us until tomorrow.

We are surviving on what we have- going with the flow of things. It's going to be an interesting time.