The Death March

Hey y'all -

Yesterday afternoon, I was really productive! I got a LOT of reading done, and wrote a ton of postcards that I'll be able to email out when I go to THE VATICAN FOR MASS this Sunday! :) (I'm a little excited, in case you can't tell...)

Anyway, most of the people in my program took naps in the afternoon, but I needed to catch up on reading. Not many other people seem to think that reading is that important, but we have our midterms on Monday, so I want to have most of it done by this weekend.

After doing a few hours of reading, Meagan (one of my roommates) and I cooked some bow-tie pasta with pesto, and it was delicious. We hung out with our other roommates (Apu and Ishanee) and Shyam for a bit. Then, I decided to go to the Internet Spot close to our apartments to check email and get a few addresses that I needed for postcards.

After spending about 20 minutes there, I headed back to our apartment. Then, Shyam, Meagan, Apu, Ishanee, Chris, and I decided to go get some gelato. OK, this is really exciting, so read closely! :) We decided to try a new place that has ONE HUNDRED flavors... it's near the Pantheon. (The gelato wasn't that great, but the experience was awesome.) So, in order to get to this gelato place, we have to walk past the Trevi Fountain and then past the Pantheon. When we were passing the Trevi Fountain, Chris stopped abruptly, and the rest of us were really confused. He is staring at this lady who is leaning over and blowing bubbles with her kid. She stands up and it's DEBRA MESSING. She was so beautiful, and she wasn't even trying. Anyway, she laughed and smiled at us, and Chris said that she was his hero, and it was really cute. Then, we continued walking, freaking out about how cool she is. It was awesome. :)

After getting gelato from the magical gelateria with 100 flavors, we looked for her when we were passing the Trevi Fountain on the way home. Unfortunately, she had either already left or saw us and decided to hide from the crazy American starstruck tourists.

When we got home, we played some Phase 10 (best card game ever) for a bit with Royce and Alex. Then, we headed to bed.

I woke up around 8 today, and met Alex, Meagan, and Chris for a morning cappuccino. Then, we had another class with Albert. We had been told from last year's program that this specific lesson was a true "Death March." I was full of coffee and caffeine, so I was really excited about this "Death March." Since I haven't been swimming, I really need to find another outlet for all of my extra energy... Anyway, the group hiked with Albert to the top of one of the many Roman hills and listened to him talk about geology for about an hour. Honestly, right now, I'm contemplating becoming a geologist. :) The material is so INTERESTING! Also, volcanoes are scary.

Anyway, after listening to his lecture, we started the notorious "Death March" that ended up being more of a "Death Stroll" up and down a lot of hills. It was interesting to see how the city had changed over the past centuries, and even more amazing now that we understood how those changes came about.

After class (we ended at about noon), I headed to a Catholic church right across from the AIRC to have some "Ashley and God" time. (I know I keep saying this, but being Catholic in Roma is incredible.)

Now, I'm at the AIRC with Shyam and Meagan, where we're going to eat lunch and then get some work done on our papers for next week (yay for being productive).

Tonight, we'll probably play more games and have another Taylor Swift singalong. :)

Oh, and there was talk about going to get Chinese for dinner. I'll let y'all know how good the Italians are at making Chinese...

I'm still having a blast - I hope everyone else is having a great summer!!

Ciao,
Ashley