here we go

ok, so... a few people on the trip here have blogs and our professor recommended doing a blog as a good way of keeping a record of what we've been up to. So I'm going to try this as a way of keeping you all up to date with my life here and compiling stories, pictures, fun facts, etc. all in one place. And even though I've never really kept a journal, this will help me to organize my thoughts for myself and I can look back on it months later when I have trouble recalling all the small things. Now, I'm at an extreme disadvantage because as of today, I have already been in Rome for 4 weeks (so hard to believe!) and so much has already happened so it would be near impossible to recount everything. So I'll mostly pick up with recent events and possibly throw in some memories for y'all.

Today in our Italian class, our teacher asked us what our plans were for the weekend and then he encouraged us to use the weekends to travel and experience the Roman life, outside of our daily work and errands. I also had this thought last night and realized that if I don't plan out what I want to do and see when I'm here in Rome, Italy, and Europe then the time will slip away from me and be gone before I know it. We have already seen many sites and places - some of which I want to re-visit and some of which I can't - but I need to make a to-do list to make sure I don't leave this experience unfulfilled because it is and has been a great opportunity - architecturally, educationally, socially, personally. I want to visit every site that we studied in BTA, I want to see an opera, I want to make an absurdly expensive Italian purchase, etc => I gotta get on these!

It is a beautiful day here, it's much cooler and drier so a very nice fall day. It makes it easier to dress nicer; we passed a group of Italian students today and it still amazes me how well they dress - hair, makeup, clothes, everything. Everyone is so sophisticated, never looking scrubby. I spent some time this afternoon uploading pictures from our northern field trip, which I'll post later when I tell you about the trip. Now we're getting people together to scout out a good place to eat around the Pantheon - we've had great luck with finding delicious foods and good prices.

well that's all for now, more later this weekend. Ciao!