The past 6 days or so...

Sorry I haven't written in a little while...I've been busy with school, hiking Cinque Terre, taking funny pictures at Pisa, etc. etc. etc. This is a quick run through of the past 6 days or so...

Thursday: Thursday night I really don't remember what we did...if anything we probably just went to Campo dei Fiori with friends..that's my best attempt at a guess for Thursday night. All of the days and nights kind of blend together here; you get different thoughts mixed up of what you did, where you went, etc. Of course, classes took place that day.

Friday: Friday we actually had classes. We generally don't have classes on Friday's because the University isn't open (welcome to yet another great feature of the Italian lifestyle!). We were planning to take it easy and pack for our weekend at Cinque Terre and Pisa, but of course, we're in Roma! Vanessa and I went out with AJ, Jon, Dominique, Kristin and Laura (all other SHU students) sightseeing and went to Piazza Venezia, the Roman Forum, Colosseo and the Trevi Fountain. The Trevi Fountain was by far my favorite sight of all. It's absolutely beautiful and huge and just everything I dreamed of and more. haha. I'm a nerd. We got gelato by the Trevi (at the place my hairdresser's mom recommended) and it was delicious. As always, I get fragola (strawberry). I will be posting pictures that AJ took on my Webshots account very soon for everyone to see.

Saturday: On Saturday we took a 4 and a half hour train ride from Roma to Riomaggiore. Riomaggiore is the first of 5 villages of Cinque Terre. We hiked...and we hiked...and we hiked some more. It was by far the most painful, eye-opening, and self-gratifying experience I have pretty much ever had. Hiking that far is intense and there were times I wanted to wimp out and take the train to the last village (there is a train that runs through all 5 villages). These pictures have already been posted for your viewing pleasure. Saturday night we took the train to Pisa, and walked forever trying to find our hostel. Instead of finding our hostel, we ended up running into this huge, leaning building. Yes, yes, it was the Leaning Tower of Pisa. We took some pictures, hung out and then proceeded on our journey to find the hostel. After about 45 minutes of walking through deserted Pisa (Pisa is seriously nothing without that tower) we stumbled upon our campground hostel. Not your typical hostel, we actually had a camper-like, bungalow for the 7 of us to stay in. It had a kitchen, bathroom with a shower, and 3 bedrooms. It was great and very cost efficient (only 20 Euro per person for great amenities). Vanessa, Erika, Nicole and I stayed up until about 3am, despite how tired we were from hiking all day, and talked about basically nothing of importance, just joking around.

Sunday: Sunday we were up and at 'em around 10am (haha) and checked out of the hostel. We walked to the Leaning Tower again to take all the necessary tourist pictures holding it up, etc. With little time left, we ran to the train station in Pisa to get our train back to Roma. Also, what I forgot to mention is that I got McDonald's chicken nuggets and fries in Pisa...and it was amazing. Not as greasy and disgusting, by any means, as it is in America.

Monday: Monday! Back to school, back to school, to prove to my blog-readers that I'm no fool! haha so yup, we had classes yesterday and then were planning on going on this American Bar Crawl with a bunch of other American college students from schools all over. We got ready and went to AJ and Jon's apartment and much to our dismay, they had just finished eating and hadn't showered or gotten ready to go out. We hung around their apartment and waited for them and by the time they were done it was far too late to go to the Bar Crawl. Jon was convinced that the 10 mosquito bites on his hands and arms were bed bugs. He spent at least 20 minutes Googling about the symptoms of bed bugs before we left to go to Campo dei Fiori for the night. We got to Campo dei Fiori after a bus ride and a short walk. There we spent hours just hanging around and having casual drinks with friends. Campo dei Fiori is always a great time. Tons of Americans go, but there are also Italians, as well. It's always fun to meet new people, and Campo is the place to do so.

Tuesday (today): Today was pretty uneventful: marketing class, finance class and now I am writing on here. In a little while AJ and Jon are going to come over and study finance - we have our first big exam tomorrow. Wish me luck!

Be sure to check out the picture site for updates:)