Already my second weekend here!

Starting with Friday night:

My apartmentmates and I went to Prati to check out our friends apartment. Somehow we messed up some pretty easy directions and oops, we were at the Vatican instead! haha We're never truly lost because there is always some giant landmark nearby. We called Tom to help us with directions and while waiting for him we goofed off and admired St. Peter's at night.

Proud to say I took this

Less proud about living with these nutsos!

A fun FYI for anyone considering studying abroad in Rome, it's much more strict than any other part of Italy because you are only allowed to drink on the streets until 23:00 (11pm)! haha some Italian youths are a little bitter about that, but yes my roomies were drinking wine outside St. Peter's.

We had a fun time checking out the guys place. It's just about as nice as ours except no common/living room which is tough, and it's 20min away from us but in the direction where nothing else is! haha They do have a sweet kitchen and a nice table where they can eat together. Ginny and I walked as far as the San'Angelo bridge with everyone but we were calling it a night (like I said, early so the beach could be fun!) and everyone else went to the usual spots to see more IES students.  A good night. Curious what a Pepperoni looks like? 

This is Prince Pepperoni

So Saturday morning: Up and at 'em! Earlyish morning so Ginny and I were out the door by 9:15, stopped at the grocery store to pick up some oranges as a snack for the day. We then hopped onto the bus that takes us to Piramide at the edge of the city then took the train back out towards Ostia beach. This time (thanks to Ginny's wonderful suggestion) we made a stop at Ostia Antica, the ancient port city of Rome. 3 min walk from the train station is a sprawling city that has been partly excavated and for a small price you can get lost in there for hours. Since it's not in the heart of Rome there are fewer tourists and we are given more freedom (no guards watching everything or constant supervision) you really get to explore wherever your heart desires. There are fantastic mosaics that have been uncovered in the bathhouses and a beautiful ampitheater! Ginny had to wheedle me into going and I am so so glad she did! We spent two hours nosing around looking at artifacts 2,000 years old.

You need to see up close, click to enlarge if you can!

Even ancient Romans loved elephants

Port city means lots of fish/water mosaics

Each tile is probably 3/4th a centimeter square... think about it

In the theater just after we stopped to sit and eat some oranges, no biggie

Ginny on a column (shhh) at Temple Fortuna

So we felt great for being up and out early, enjoying the sun and checking out a really neat place and being semi-academic/touristy. Ok so let's go have relaxing fun!! We hopped back on the train and went to Ostia beach again, meeting up with Pepperoni, Mike, Matt, Lauren, and Hope! We brought the oranges and they brought nutella with ritz and cookies! The snack stand has some good panini if you can fight off the crowds of Italians trying to pay. A nap miiight have been taken and as a result my left leg/stomach is sooooorta pink/red/ouch. I read a little more of my book and splashed in the water. It was cooler at the beach because there was a breeze but the water was glorious. Mike had to talk to EVERY vendor on the beach buying sunglasses, a doughnut, and a coconut. The vendors on the beach are like the people handing out roses, they come up and talk to you and put their product in your face and need to be told at least two times you're not interested! We were at the beach for a solid 5 hours before a less salty/sandy/sunny location started looking good. When we started packing up the woman next to us starting chatting with us because she heard us speaking Italian and English to each other so she thought we were Swiss! haha that's cool with me! But she was sweet and joked around with us about how slow Mike was and how living in Prati means the boys' stay in Rome is blessed cause the Pope is so close. It's fun talking to natives in their language. An uneventful train ride back to the city and hopped a bus to Largo Argentina so we could get some groceries before everything closes down for Sunday! If you don't have  food Saturday you will starve on Sunday. 

Saturday night we hosted a little get together and I met a few new people. We went on a hunt for Bloom, a club where girls can get in for free, but it took an hour to go the three blocks. I peeked inside (since it didn't cost me anything) but was not in a dancing mood. It was nice so maybe some other night I'll check it out. I headed home, sykped, chatted with my roomies and had delicious bread and nutella. That is the perfect midnight snack.

Church bells on Sunday woke me up and here I am blogging my heart out instead of eating breakfast, because people just don't do that here. It's almost lunch anyway, I'll go try to find a pizzeria or snack on the tomato/mozz I have here. Hope everyone is having a great weekend whichever continent they might be on!!