2nd official weekend in Rome

After a nice long week filled with lots of visitors and less schoolwork, I spent the weekend in Rome for only the 2nd time since January.  The weather was absolutely gorgeous (I hear it is at ND too? In March??? weird.) and apparently this is what it is supposed to be like January on.  Not as much rain as we have seen.  Why have I not heard of this amazing city that doesn't get thunderstorms and other natural disasters before? Still have to check the weather multiple times a day, even consistent 60 and sunny can't get me away from that.

Katie's parents were in town all week so Friday night they took a bunch of us out to dinner for the beginning of an evening of indulgences.  Besides wine and Prosecco (how Italy does champagne) we had several courses and dessert.  The company was great, it was so nice to have family in town even though it wasn't mine. Miss you guys!!! Plus really awesome to find out that the Curtins have family in Fondy!  Small world.

We wrapped up planning spring break which is, oops, next weekend.  It's weird that we don't have to suffer through all the anticipation of planning this trip just a week in advance.  The prospect of spending 10 days on the Greek islands is something I never thought possible for me in life, much less as a college student.  Plus, this is officially my last week of being underage... I'll never forget that I spent my golden birthday in Greece! This just makes this whole experience seem incredibly more surreal.  I just keep asking myself, What life am I living here? I'm 20 years old and spending 4 months in the Eternal City traveling at my leisure (and studying too I guess) to these amazing places...now I guess it is finally starting to sink in.  And the semester is already over half over? I can't believe it.

midterms and more

So apparently I really do struggle at keeping up with this, although last week I had a huge excuse.  Midterms were surprisingly legitimate abroad, and I am handing in my final one this afternoon ... which is REALLY EXCITING.  I did squeeze 4 awful tests and a paper in between two really amazing weekends traveling..so it's been extremely busy but fun!

Lindsey and I went to Prague last weekend.  The city was beautiful, but the sun never really came out and for me it definitely had a distinctly Soviet-occupation (or what I imagine that would be like) feel to it.  I think this is my two Euro-political science classes I am taking speaking.  It also didn't help that we don't speak Czech, but the people were nice and as helpful as they could be.  Prague is a surprisingly huge city set in a valley.  Like a lot of European cities there are zones like Old Town (stare mesto) and New Town (nove mesto).  Weirdly, one of the best parts about Prague is that they have a Starbucks.  We sat several times just looking out into the city from the friendly confines of our favorite American coffee joint...is that sad?  Anyway, definitely a different experience, and a long trip.

Last week was midterms, and I have never been so happy for them to be over.  Luckily the ND kids have a lot of their classes with eachother, so studying was bearable in groups.  We wrapped up the week nicely with a trip to Paris....amazing!! We spent Friday on the Champs-Elysees between the Louvre and the Arc de Triomphe and the weather was absolutely gorgeous.  Saturday we went to EuroDisney, and yes it was such a good call.. even though maybe not as good as the originals.  I went on a real rollercoaster and I am never going to do it again.  We did all the touristy things like climb the Eiffel Tower, walk around the Louvre for hours, went to other museums, church at Notre Dame (the real one :) ) and just strolling along the Seine.  Paris is an awesome city but like most was really expensive for just a weekend.  Still, totally worth it!

The weather in Rome is gorgeous now, 60 and sunny every day.  I heard WI is getting a blizzard right now.....sorry.  ALso, it's ND spring break so we have a huge amount of London kids and also family here for most of the week....the roommates are having a field day with that, but I have to wait until May to see mine!  Still, our break is in two weeks and there are actually things to accomplish this half of the semester, but I plan on staying in Rome a lot more and trying to save money for Chicagooooooo this summer!!!! :) :) :) :) Life is good.