Roma, Roma!

Italy Jan 23-24 061
Originally uploaded by stephanie_pile

We went to Rome for the first time on Friday. We left early on the train in lower Orvieto. Marco our history professor was not on this trip, so our K-state professors treated it like an orientation to Rome and to help us learn how to travel on our own. So, we stopped shortly at a lot of the different major sites, to orient ourselves to the city. My roomates and I ended up staying the night this weekend, because Carrie has cooking class all day next saturday. We had a nice pizza dinner at a restaurant near our hostel, Ciao Roma!. Later that evening we visited the Colleseum at night while it was lightly raining. We ended up walking around the Roman Forum and up to the Capitoline hill, but then it started raining harder, so we headed back to the hostel. The next day we headed to St. Peters pretty early to hopefully "beat" the crowd. Luckily the line was not bad at all, although there were a lot of people there. Later our group split up even more. My group headed from there to the Vatican Museum, mainly to see the Sistine Chapel, which was really cool to see in person. Luckily, we got a 6 euro student discount at the museum, so instead of paying 14, we only paid 8. The Vatican Museum is huge and just to get to the Sistine Chapel with very few detours it took us around an hour and a half! I have loaded some pictures finally on my flickr site which you can find here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stephanie_pile/. Unfortuneatley it is taking forever to upload pictures online, so I am having to be picky with the over 400 pictures that I have taken in 4 days.

Orvieto is Amazing!

So far, Italy has been amazing, probably better than I could ever have imagined. I still can't believe I am here! Our Appartment is adorable! We are extremely happy with it. It is really close to a lot of really cool shops and a piazza. For lunch today we had some amazing pizza for only 1 euro. I hope to add pictures soon. Oh on a side note, my birthday was pretty amazing too, besides being really tired. We ate some amazing italian food, first at the study center a light brunch and then a light dinner at Zepplins, the restaurant that I am are taking a cooking class at on the first Saturday in February. I can't wait for that. They split the group into four and so each group will learn a different menu. One of my roommates goes tomorrow, and the rest of us are excited to learn what she learns! On the docket for tomorrow is our first experience in the market, which is on Thursday and Saturday mornings. Then, I have my first class with our Italian History professore. On Friday we are taking our first field trip to Roma. I am not sure what all we are seeing as a group yet, because we will be going back the next weekend as well.

We Made It!

So we made it to Rome! Yea! Right now we are sitting in the airport waiting for the charter bus that will take us to Orvieto. The plane ride at the end was a little bumpy and I got a little sick, but I am feeling much better now on solid ground. I am looking forward to sharing my pictures with you soon!

Italia here I come!

The time has come! I can't believe it, I will be in Italy in a little over 24 hours. I leave today at 8:40 fly to DC and then fly to Rome around 4:30. I will be in Rome at 7:30 the next morning (My Birthday!) Arrivederci America!

Una Settimana! (One Week!)

This break is flying by! I am getting so excited. By this time next week I will be en route to Washington DC to meet all the rest of my friends and for my flight to Roma! This weekend was very productive in crossing of things off of my to do list! Yea! Also, I got to see two of my friends from school on their way to Colorado Springs to start their internships with emI (Engineering Ministries International) which will also in a week take them to Uganda and India! It was nice to see them. I hope you enjoy while I try to keep you up to date on my upcoming adventure!

Welcome! Italy count: 11 days

Bienvenuto to my blog! This is the place where I plan to keep you all up to date on my adventure in Italy! The clock is ticking and the 19th will be here before I even know it. I am getting excited, but there is still so much yet to do!