Roma

I'm getting worse at keeping my blog updated so here's my attempt to catch everyone up. I haven't taken many trips since my last posting and I have quite a few group projects keeping me busy at school. Yes, I am going to classes and studying while I'm here to all of you who have been asking me :) Last weekend I tagged along with a friend of mine and her family and we went to Rome. It was the weekend of the Maratona di Roma, and we had planned a while ago to do a Fun Run that was associated with the marathon. It was a great city, TONS to see, and it has so much history. I've taken a few college courses on the history of Rome and the Empire so it was amazing seeing all the actual ruins and buildings. We did a "hop-on-hop-off" bus tour that went around to the major sightseeing places and was a convenient way to get a little history/background on the bus, and then be able to explore and see it ourselves. We even managed to hop borders and go into another country during the weekend - the smallest country in the world which is???? Vatican City! We climbed an incredible amount of stairs to the top of St. Peter's Basilica, saw where the Pope gives his speeches, and wandered around a bit. The run was on Sunday morning and that in itself was an incredible experience as well. There were so many different nationalities there. We started right next to the Colosseum, ran 2.5 miles through the cobblestone streets and other ruins (ALOT uphill!) and then ended on a hill next to the Colosseum agian. Afterwards I watched the first runners from the Marathon come in. The first probably 25 runners were all from Kenya, and there was a large gap then between the rest. The first woman was also Kenyan, but the first Caucasian person was actually a woman! Here I've been enjoying the sun and pleasant weather. Nothing extreme, but it's been pretty steady in the mid-60's. It's fairly humorous because give us 65 degree weather in WI and everyone's already breaking out the shorts, but here everyone still has their large coats on. Anyways, it's my last day of classes today before we have mid-term break from until April 14. Lucky for me I don't have any midterms :) So I'm spending my time traveling and enjoying my visitors. My boyfriend, Andrew, gets here on Friday and we're doing Paris, Venice, and Cinque Terre. I'll try me best to keep you all updated! Hope all is well back in the States and you're all enjoying the spring weather!