How is it March already???

The semester is going by WAY too quickly. I haven't updated in a while mostly because I've been so busy (and partially because I'm a little lazy). Last weekend I went to Rome on a day trip for my Etruscan Art and Archaeology class. We got to tour the Roman Forum which was really amazing, even in the horrible rainy weather. I did the Colosseum last time but hadn't gone down into the Forum because I knew we'd visit it for this trip. After that we climbed Capitoline Hill and got a great view of the old center of Rome.

Arch of Titus

Roman Forum

Equestrian Monument of Marcus Aurelius

When we broke for lunch in the old Jewish ghetto area of Rome we went to a restaurant that served these amazingly delicious fried artichokes. SO GOOD.

sooooooo delicious

After lunch we did a couple things I had already done on my last trip to Rome (Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, etc.) but I enjoyed going back and our teacher had a lot of interesting facts about everything--even non-class related material. Finally, we went to the Villa Guilia which houses one of the best Etruscan Archaeological collections in the world.

famous Etruscan terracotta couple

Almost everything we had learned about in class was there and it was interesting to see everything in real life. We had to SPRINT to make it back to the train station in time for our 6:15 train and I was back in my apartment by 8:20 at night.

Nothing too exciting for the rest of the weekend, lots of sleeping in and a little bit of studying for midterms. I had two midterms on Monday (Renaissance Art and Etruscan Art) and then an Italian oral exam today and written exam tomorrow. I think most of the teachers understand that we're abroad and they gave pretty comprehensive reviews for the midterms so there were no surprises (thankfully). Most of my energy has been going towards getting ready for spring break which is finally here!

Tomorrow I leave straight from campus to go to the airport for a 4:50 plane to Amsterdam. I'm meeting a few friends from school there and we have 2 days to see everything until we leave on Saturday for Hasselt, Belgium. I'm there for a little less than 24 hours-- the only purpose for that trip is to go to a Rave called Sensation White. From there I fly to London where I spend the afternoon/night with my friend Alyssa from high school. My roommate meets me in London on Monday and we're going to go sightseeing Monday and Wednesday. Tuesday we take a bus tour to see Stonehenge and the Roman Baths. Wednesday evening we're taking a train to Paris. A couple of my Colgate friends will be there as well so we're going to see them. We stay in Paris until Saturday morning (early) when we fly to Milan for a day and a half at Lake Como. From THERE we finally take a train back to Florence and arrive home around 6pm. After that I'll probably want to sleep for about 3 days and it will slowly sink in how much of the money I've spent the last 5 years lifeguarding for is gone. It will be completely worth it though = )

I can't believe Spring break is FINALLY here after all of our weeks of planning and booking everything. I'm all set with everything I could possibly need printed out so hopefully everything goes smoothly. I've never actually traveled alone let alone planned an entire week-long vacation (or any vacation). Trying to channel my mom here and be really organized... not quite sure I'm up to par with her. Eeeeek.


Updates to follow after I recover from spring break!!
Here's hoping my parents don't have to send a search party to Europe to find me (KIDDING mom and dad).