School's out for the summer! Again....

Hey y'all -

FINALS ARE OVERRRR!! Yay! No more classes. Which is kind of sad because I really liked them. And I'm going to miss learning about Rome in Rome. And I"m going to miss the people and professors. Aw... now I'm sad.

Last night, we went to dinner at the place with over 100 different pasta sauces - it was sooo good (again)! It wasn't the entire group - just Shyam, Apu, Ishanee, Alex, Kristen, Stephen, and Meagan. Such a fun dinner!

After dinner, we went to our apartments to work on our final outlines. We worked really hard for a while, and then took a break by going DANCING! :) Oh, before we went out, we talked with the people from across the hall for a bit, getting to know them. They are so sweet - I wish our groups had overlapped for longer.

We went to the Abbey Pub for some Strongbow and Long Island Iced Teas - so delicious. The pub is pretty Americanized/Britishized, but it was a lot of fun.

Then, after a few drinks, Meagan, Ishanee, Alex and I went DANCING! Oh, it was so much fun! The club we go to has no cover and the dance floor is really fun. (There are lights in the floor... so cool!) Anyway, we danced for a few hours, and then headed home to bed.

Oh, while we were at the club, a girl from Ohio told us that MJ died. It was so sad. Like, really, really sad. They played Billie Jean, and we danced our hearts out for MJ.

Anyway, this morning, Meagan and I woke up around 9 to go to laundry. It was absolutely necessary. Anyway, my clothes are REALLY clean and soft now. Which I'm excited about.

We worked some more on our outlines and then walked to the AIRC. We just took our finals - my hand is all cramped.

We have a farewell dinner tonight, and then we're going back to the club for dancing tonight one last time! :)

It'll be fun to see everyone one last time before most people take off. I'm going to miss these people!

I'm excited to see family in a few hours! I can't wait to see them all!

Ciao,
Ashley

PS - Only two weeks left before America? What? I'm so not ready for this.

So sad!

Hey y'all -

My presentation went really well! It was more like Isis story-time than anything else. :) Haha, Isis was pretty legit, and she got mixed up in a lot of crazy stories. (Seriously, if you get bored this summer, look her up. She makes me laugh.)

Anyway, all we have left for school are two finals tomorrow afternoon. And then class is over. I'm so sad - I can't believe that my peers are leaving Roma as early as tomorrow.

BUT, on the other hand, I'm so excited to see Mom, Kim, and Chris!

Oh, I finally got stamps for the postcards that I wrote my first weekend here! So, I'll mail those off either tomorrow or Sunday. :)

Ciao bellas,
Ashley

I saw dead people.

Hey y'all -

Last night was great! I went with some people (Alex, Kristin, Vicki, Stephen, David, Chris, Meagan) to Da Baffeto Pizzaria, and then we went to Frigidarium for gelato. It was delicious - and we had a great waiter. Well, he started out really funny. Then, he got borderline a little too friendly with Alex. Poor girl. Haha, it was really fun, though! And so yummy.

After gelato, we hung out at Piazza Navona for a bit. It's still pretty cool that I can randomly go hang out at Piazza Navona in Roma, Italia. :)

We walked back past the Pantheon to the boys' apartment, where we just hung out for a while. We played games, chatted, and I got the most amazing back massage of my life. Which was awesome because my back is tired from all the walking of the past month. :) Yay for cobbled streets!

Today, we met up at Barberini metro stop with KG. It was our last class day today. So sad. Anyway, we went to go see Jewish Catacombs first. KG got us special permission to visit them - they were on private property in the middle of the beautiful Italian country. Anyway, they were really, really creepy. I mean, they were fun. But they were creepy, too. There were so many spaces where the dead used to be placed - I was terrified a dead body was going to pop out every time I rounded a corner. After like ten minutes of initial freaking out, I calmed down and started to enjoy the experience a lot. There was still some wall decor up, and that was really cool to see. Oh, and it was freezing down in the catacombs. Also, lots and lots of menorahs.

After the Jewish Catacombs, we went to go see the Christian Catacombs. These were public - the San Callisto Catacombs. It was a completely different experience - much less creepy. There were so many people in our tour that we were just kind of herded like cattle. Not as cool of an experience since it wasn't as creepy and scary. :)

Class was done around 1, so I went back to my apartment to shower and finish preparing for my presentation on Isis and the Virgin Mary - about to happen in a few minutes. I did some reading for class, and we're at the AIRC right now about to have a discussion.

We have finals tomorrow - then the program is over. We have a goodbye dinner tomorrow night, but I'm not ready to say goodbye to everyone!

I'm glad I'll be staying in Roma for an extra week! Thank goodness!

I get to see family in two days! So exciting!

Gotta go - class is about to start!

Ciao,
Ashley

So, clubbing in Roma is fun.

Hey beautiful people!

Before I forget, I just want to say that I'm SO excited to see Mom, Kim, and Chris in less than THREE DAYS!! :) I can't wait to hang out with them in Roma and Venice for the next few weeks.

That being said, I'm really sad that I have only one day of class left. This program has been amazing - I've learned so much and had a lot of fun doing it.

I've missed blogging the past few days... Here's what I've been up to!

On Monday evening, I went to dinner at That's Amore near Via Rasella (our apartments). Meagan, Chris, Ishanee, Apu, and Shyam and I ate some really really delicious food! I had a calzone with broccoli in it. Honestly, I'm not the biggest fan of broccoli, but I was feeling bold and decided to try something new. It was so delicious. Now, I like broccoli, so congratulations for making the impossible possible Italia! :)

After dinner, we all went to write (in my case, edit) our papers that were due Tuesday. Then, Shyam and I went to a little bar/cafe near the Barberini metro station for a congratulatory drink for finishing our papers. I had my first cosmopolitan, and it was absolutely amazing. We ran into Chris who was working on his papers at a table in the bar/cafe, and then Shyam and I went up to the second floor where there were tables with a great lookout of the piazza. Shyam and I chatted for a while, swapping stories about life, and then decided we should go to bed. These early mornings are starting to make me sleepy. :)

Oh, we had the most amazing waitress! She was hilarious, and she kept teasing Shyam and I for leaving "our other friend" (Chris) downstairs reading and writing while we had fun upstairs. Haha, she was hilarious. Oh, and there was a REALLY drunk guy sitting upstairs who was talking to himself for about twenty minutes. Then, when he left, he came up to us and said "I really like Americans! Americans are good!" Gooood times in Roma.

So, Shyam and I went back to our apartments to go to bed. I chatted with Apu and Ishanee for a bit, and then climbed into bed, exhausted.

Tuesday, I woke up and got ready. We caught a bus near Barberini going toward a park near the Mouth of Truth. After getting cappuccinos, we went to the park to wait for KG to meet us. It was a beautiful day, and it felt really good to just lay down in the grass before the day started.

We met up with KG and went to go see an ancient meeting place for members of the Cult of Mithras. Apparently, not very many people get permission to visit because there was an intricate system of alarms in place. The alarm system was so good that it went off twice even when the guy who was authorized to open the gates was opening them. The meeting place of the Cult of Mithras was actually really interesting - not like any church that I'd want to attend, but it was cool for an hour or so. :)

After that, we went to Tiber Island to look at the ancient hospital. Our visit there was very brief. (But, Alex kicked butt at her presentation!!)

Then, we went to go visit another meeting place of the cult of Mithras. The Church of San Clemente was really cool - it had a Catholic Church and a bunch of other ancient cult meeting places underneath. Very cool.

After that, we rode a bus back to the AIRC and had a discussion about some of our reading. Most of our discussion was about religion so it was really interesting for me.

Then, Alex, Royce, Adam, and I headed back to our apartments and ate some lunch at a pizza place next door on Via Rasella. Alex and I went to her apartment where I watch HSM 3 (so good!) and some HIMYM. Then, I went to my apartment to take a shower and get ready for the night.

We went to dinner at an Italian place near Termini. The Venice group had eaten there the night they got back to Roma. It was really good - and a lot of people went, so it was a lot of fun. So, I had tortellini last night, and I had forgotten how much I LOVE tortellini. So delicious.

After dinner, we went back to the boys' apartment and hung out for a bit. Then, some of us went out to a bar/club near Piazza Navona. It ended up being Alex, Vicki, Apu, Ishanee, Meagan, Shyam, Chris, and Royce. It was a lot of fun - I miss dancing SO much. We stayed for about an hour and a half, then we had to go home. (Early mornings!) :)

We got to sleep in a bit this morning. Some of us met on our way to the Pantheon and had cappuccinos at a new place - Tazo D'Oro (The Golden Cup). It was really good! Anyway, it was right next to the Pantheon, so we stayed there for a bit and then walked to the Pantheon when it was time to meet KG.

We walked from the Pantheon to the Sant'Ivo courtyard. It was beautiful - a mixture between Renaissance and Baroque architecture. Today, we walked around seeing beautiful Renaissance architecture. We had a guest teacher (Dr. Irene Baldriga), and she was so much fun. Very knowledgeable and passionate about what she was teaching.

We went into a Baroque church (San Andrew), and it was the most beautiful church I've ever seen. Seriously, I was blown away.

We ended class today in Piazza Navona with some gelato (it had been like six days since I'd had gelato, and it was really good). Some of us hung out there for a bit, just relaxing. Then, Alex and I walked back to our apartments with the Three Stooges (Adam, Royce, and Daniel). I promise that's an endearing name. :)

Alex and I worked on some class stuff for a bit, and then I left to go do some shopping. It was a perfect day for shopping. I bought a new scarf, a keychain, an Italia jacket (so cute), and a Roma bag.

Then, Meagan and I went to go hang out with Alex in her apartment for a bit. Because Meagan and I both happened to forget our keys. Oops. Anyway, we all watched an episode of HIMYM. It was the one with the best burger in NYC. So, Meagan and I started really craving a burger. It's embarrassing, but we went with David to go eat at Burger King. So embarrassing. But it was delicious.

After that, I came to the AIRC to work on my presentation (it's tomorrow afternoon) a bit. We had a review session for our HUM class, and now I'm just catching up on my blog!

I'm about to go take a shower and then go out to dinner with some people from the group. We're going to Da Baffetto! :) Yummy pizza.

We're probably going out dancing again tonight - can't forget how to dance while I'm in Europe! :)

I'm sad that I can't watch the CWS tonight - Hook 'em horns! Cheer hard for me, please!

Ciao,
Ashley

PS - FAMILY IN < THREE DAYS!!!

Brrr...

Ahh! It's cold in Roma now.

Yay for a cold mid-June. :)

Aqueduct Adventures

Hey y'all -

So, last night after leaving the AIRC, Alex and I cooked dinner for ourselves and Royce. We finished Season 2 of HIMYM and then watched the Season 4 finale (which neither Alex nor I had seen). It was so good!

Then, I went back to my apartment and talked to Shyam, Apu, Ishanee, and Meagan for a bit. I was really tired (which makes no sense because I slept in and took a nap), so I went to bed early.

I woke up this morning and got cappuccinos with Alex, Apu, and Ishanee and then we went to the Barberini Metro Stop. We caught the 8.20 metro to go meet Albert out in Roman suburbia.

We went to a dig site to watch them work, but they hadn't actually started digging yet. We heard about their project - and it was actually pretty cool. Then, we started helping them pull weeds to prepare the site for digging.

After that, we went on another "Death March" with Albert. It was a beautiful day because the rain this weekend brought in a cold front. Thank goodness. So, the walk along the aqueducts was really cool. We actually got to stand on top of an Aqueduct Claudia, and it was a crazy cool experience!

Gosh, the Roman countryside is so beautiful. Today, I just kept looking around and thinking "I love Europe so much." I didn't think I was a country girl - but apparently in Europe I am. :)

Then, we took the metro to look at some more aqueducts that have become part of the city gates.

After all the aqueduct fun, we headed back to our apartments to get our computers, and now we're at the AIRC to work on our last papers - which are due tomorrow.

I'm almost done... I'm gonna write about one more page for a paper and then edit both of them. Almost done with the semester - it feels really strange.

Tonight, I'm going to eat at a ristorante near our apartments with some friends from the program. It should be a fun night - I'm really glad I've done most of my papers already! :)

Ciao bellas,
Ashley

When it rains...

Hey y'all -

It's been a very rainy day in Roma, but I absolutely LOVE the rain, so it's been fabulous.

Here is the youtube.com link to my most favorite song ever. I sang it a lot today. :) (Notice the very clever blog title today.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztHNs_b_sy0

Last night, Alex and I cooked pasta again for dinner. We had baby bow ties and big bow ties, and it was really cute. And delicious. Then, we watched some more "How I Met Your Mother" and borrowed internet from the generous donor in our apartment complex. :)

Later last night, the group of us who went to Venice for the weekend returned, and it got REALLY loud. (The weekend was very peacefully quiet.) So, we caught up with them for a bit and heard about their amazing weekend. I'm really excited to go to Venice with Kim and Chris in a week and a half!

I went to bed early, and woke up for American Mass at St. Susanna (the Paulist Father Church) at 10.30. Back to St. Peter's for High Mass in a week! :)

Then, I went back to my apartment to work on my papers. I got through one and a half papers, and then I took a really long nap. The rain (complete with thunder and lightening) made the apartment really dark, and it was really quiet all day. Perfect conditions for napping. :)

Oh, I had some really interesting dreams - in one, I was dating Batman, and he saved me from Darth Vader... Not really sure how those two stories got mixed up in my head.

Then, I woke up and talked with Apu and Ishanee for a bit - they had gone shopping, so we had a mini-fashion show.

Alex and I went to go get cappuccinos on our way to the AIRC, and now we are working on papers and catching up on internet.

We all wrote in a card for KG for Father's Day - he's been a father figure to all of us in Roma - and we just gave it to him. He's such a sweet man. :)

Tonight, we're going to work on papers some more and just keep relaxing, enjoying our last few days together in Roma.

It's been a relaxing weekend with lots of sleeping - which is good because I was definitely missing sleep.

I really wish time would go by slower. I'm going to miss living in Europe.

Can't wait to see Mom, Kim, and Chris in five days!

Ciao,
Ashley