Hello friends!

I apologize for such the long delay (I can't believe it's already been a whole month since my last post... time sure does fly) but I'm back to fill you in on my exciting life in Rome.  When last I left, I was frolicking in the Borghese Gardens enjoying the beautiful sunshine of Italy but so much has happened since then, it feels like a lifetime ago.  The best thing to do would be to start where I left off.

So after my frolicsome scene in the Gardens, the next week was week 5 of my archaeology  class.  Comparatively, it was a rather slow week.  We visited some very interesting sites, including the Stadium of Domition, the Pantheon and the Ara Pacis museum (Oh, so cool) but with Tunisia looming in the distance, it was hard to keep my mind on anything else.  That weekend I didn't do much besides preparing for the trip and studying for my ever-approaching midterms.  Eventually, the sun dawned on Monday morning.  Today was the day.  The next five days were spent crawling around in archaeological sites, tasting new foods, and experiencing the new culture of Tunisia.

The days blur together in my mind (we visited more archaeological sites than I can remember) but highlights included El Djem, Dougga, Carthage, and the ancient marble quarry.  Because of the dryer climate, many of these sites were very well preserved and whole cities were still intact (one such site was Dougga).  I could continue to be nerdy and explain more about these sites, but again, I might bore you.  Besides the 10 hours a day we spent in class, we had a couple nights and one afternoon to explore.  Unfortunately, I was very obviously a tourist and not a native, so I had many merchants trying their best to sell me things.  However, I was able successfully avoid them (after buying one beautiful scarf for myself).  Overall, I enjoyed my trip to Tunisia.  It was very different, nothing like I'd ever experienced before, but it was great to see it.  And I was also surprised to realize that, despite still being homesick for Texas, I was also homesick for Rome.  I think I'm really starting to become attached to my simple life in Roma, Italy.

Onto week 6... MIDTERMS.  Gah!  I think I did relatively ok, and while I spent much of my time worrying about them, I had other priorities as well.  One of my roommates, Jen, unfortunately was admitted to the hospital the day after we returned from Tunisia with acute appendicitis.  So in the little free time I had, I was running back and forth between my apartment and the hospital, trying my best to both be there for Jen and do well on my exams.  I think I found a happy medium and though I lost some sleep because of this, such is the life of a college student.  That's nothing new.  And in the end, I was rewarded with the best Spring Break I've ever had.

Spring Break - so much to say and so little time to say it.  For the break, my fellow companion, Josh, and I (Jen was to make the duo a trio but alas, emergency surgery made that impossible) spent three days in London, England; three days in Paris, France; and three days in Vienna, Austria.  And what a trip it was.  Highlights include the British Museum and Westminster Abby in London; the Eiffel Tower, Versailles, and the Louvre in Paris; and the Imperial Palace and the Belvedere in Vienna.  We spent as much time doing as much as possible, trying our best to see, do, and eat it all.  My pocket book is considerably lighter than it was when I left and I am more tired that I thought I would be, but it was well worth it.  It was the experience of a lifetime, something that I might never have the chance to experience again.  Fabulous.

Well, now that I've caught you all up to speed, I can return to my life as a college student and do all the homework I should have done over Spring Break.  I promise to post pictures of all these experiences later in the week.  Ciao.

Well, I'm now entering into week 5 of my stay here in Rome and have had plenty of adventures the past couple weeks here in Italy.

To start, I'm absolutely loving my archaeology class. The days are long and I have yet to get use to all the walking but it's well worth it. During week 3, we spent our days exploring what was left of the Campus Martius, Forum Boarium, and the Forum Holitorium of ancient Rome. While not much remains of these once busy markets, it allowed us to wonder through some of the most cultured sites of modern Rome, including the Jewish Ghetto. And, as a last treat, our professor took us to Monte Testaccio - "The hill of sherds." This hill, which was gigantic I might add, was made up of nothing but ancient pottery sherds. Literally. It felt wrong to be walking around on top of ancient pottery fragments but there I was, and it was amazing. Talk about a nice surprise to the end of a long week.

That weekend, to escape homework and the hustle and bustle of Rome, a group of us decided to make a day trip up to Assisi, Italy - home to the Basilica of St. Francis. The church was beautiful and was spread across a good portion of the hill the city sat on. After a visit through the grounds, we hiked up to the top of the hill to spend the afternoon playing among the remains of a medieval castle and enjoying the beautiful weather. Assisi sits at the base of Apennine mountain range and, while the hike from the train station was murder, the weather was gorgeous. It was cool but warm in the sun, with a slight breeze and even some remnants of their last snow fall remained on the ground.

What I learned during week 4 of my archaeology class can be summed up with three words: "people gotta eat." We spend both field-trip days in Ostia Antica, the ancient port city of Rome. Some of the things I saw were incredible - including an ancient hotel with the vaulted ceiling perfectly preserved with the frescos still intact! The mosaics were beautiful, used both as decoration and advertisements back in antiquity. I would go into more details, but then I would just sound nerdy. And as much as I would like to share with all of you my knowledge of the ancient economy, it would probably bore you to tears. Just know I felt like a kid in a candy store. I kept wanting to go play hide-and-seek (which has been the favorite past-time of many children, and adults, who have visited the site). But alas, our time in Ostia was up before I knew it.

This weekend was a pretty laid back weekend. I spent a majority of my time catching up on homework and enjoying the beautiful weather. However, on Saturday, a couple of us decided to make a visit to the Villa Borghese Gardens and to the museum there. After goggling at some of Bernini's best works for a couple hours, I (very happily) laid down in the grass under a tree to enjoy the relative quiet that the gardens offered. Then, with my tummy grumbling, I went in search of an afternoon snack and returned home to once more, dive into my mountain of accumulating work.

That's about it for now. My next update may not be for a while as our trip to Tunisia (Yippie!) and midterms (Ugh.) are right around the corner. Just know that more wondrous new tales are on their way. Ciao!