When In Rome Will Never Be Cliche.

I am back from my Italian adventure- almost one week exploring Rome, Florence, and Venice. The trip began, or almost didn't begin, due to my small case of food poisneing. On Wednesday afternoon I returned from class with terrible stomach cramps. I threw up a few times but figured it was just some bug and to try to sleep it off. But I had never felt so ill in my entire life, and beccause I was more scared than anything else I took my roommate and mother's advice and went to the doctor. I could barely walk and was in so much pain I was going in and out of conscience on othe cab ride there. One of the assistant directors from CEA met me there and the doctor told me I probably had food poisening. His solution was a shot in my butt to stop me from feeling so nauseaus, pills to stop the pain, and no eating for 24 hours. After the shot I had to take a cab home, this is when I felt the worst. I got home, vomited a few more times, and then slept for 8 hours. Sorry for all the details but I don't want to leave anything from my life in Spain out.

Anyways, I was weak but I made it to the flight to Rome. I just was very careful with what I ate. Anyways, we got into Rome, found our hostel. It was a very cute, "studenty" place called Roma Inn. We made the most of our early arrival and walked to see the Colosseum. It was very cool and we got so lucky with the weather. I ran into a kid form Vanderbilt while walking through the ruins, it was really funny! The Colosseum was massive and very interesting but I think the gardens of ruins behind the Colosseum were even cooler. Here's a picture of me in the gardens (mind the fact that I was still not feeling so great):

Then we decided we would go back and take a nap because our flight left Sevilla at 6:30am. I defintely needed a nap after walking around all day. I had my first meal in a few days in the hostel, for free. They cooked us lasagna and it was delicious! The students who ran the hostel were taking everyone out for the night and I felt bad that I couldn't go but it was also nice that I could fall asleep early in a quiet hostel.

The next day we got an early start and headed over to Vatican City. We saw St. Peter's Basilica- which kind of blew the Cathedral of Sevilla out of the water. We then waited in line for 35 minutes to see the Sistene Chapel. It really was not what I was expecting at all. We walk through all these rooms with beautiful ceilings and tapestries and maps and finally, at the end, we come upon the room of the Sistene chapel. I imagined it as being one continuous image but it is really many different paintings all on one ceiling. It was still overwhelmingly beautiful but just different. Next we walked around Rome looking at all different things. We went to the Spanish steps and then the Trevi Fountain. The Trevi Fountain was beautiful, see picture below: Then we hit up the Pantheon. It was also very interesting to learn about how the dome was erected and I still don't really understand what happens when it rains due to the fact that there is a huge hole (the only source of light for the entire church). That was our last visit in Rome because we left the next morning for Florence!

We got into Florence mid-afternoon and found our hotel. It was a cute little hotel run by two brothers. It was very nice and clean for the price, plus the location was great. We got some lunch when we got in and explored the city by just walking around. We had some great meals the first day but held off on the real tourist stuff until the next day. But because the next day was a Monday, lots of things weren't going to be open so we went to the Uffitzi gallery and saw lots of Botticelli and other religious works of art. From there we explored the Pont d'Vecchio. Grandma had told me a lot about the bridge- known for it's gold and shopping. We enjoyed a great meal for dinner, delicious Italian. The next morning we got an early start and we went to all the places we needed to go- started at the Duomo, then did some shopping (where I picked up some great presents for people at home). Later in the day, we hiked up to Piazza Michelangelo, which is supposed to have the best view of Florence. It did live up to the name, check out this picture:
Florence is a beautiful city and it really reminded me of Sevilla. Small, narrow streets, lots of plazas/piazzas, a river, ect... haha- well it really did feel similar. That night I met up with some Vanderbilt people that are studying in Florence. I still wasn't up to a night of drinking but it was definitely fun to see them. It's cool that they all are studying together but at the same time, they don't't have a great opportunity to meet other students. Either way, it was cool to visit. The next morning we were off to Venice.

Okay, so I have to go meet my friends that are visiting me for Feria. I will continue to write more about Venice later, I just wanted to get something written. Goodbye for now!