Hey again. It looks like trying to keep this up every day is going to be quite the challenge. At least at this stage we are just so busy the whole day that I don't have the time...and classes haven't even started yet! Anyways, I will do it as frequently as possible though.

So, after my last posting we boarded the flight from London to Rome, which was surprisingly empty. I had a whole row to myself, which was a nice change from the packed flight from Los Angeles. The flight was about 2.5 hours and flew by as I was thoroughly entrenched in my book. It was especially cool because the setting for half the book was London, where I just was and several places were mentioned. Buckingham Palace, St. James Park, and Embankment were some of these places. Anyways, by the end of the flight I had only about 10 pages left, so it was a pretty quick read.

We were told that upon landing we had to hurry to the baggage claim to meet the large group from an earlier flight before they left. That way we could hop on a bus instead of paying for a train or taxi. As it turns out, two people lost luggage, so we actually waited for them. It was about a half hour drive to our apartment, which is on Via Candia just outside the Vatican. It is definitely different than I expected, much more city-like in this area. However, our apartment is really nice. I guess we were lucky and got a really big place. I am rooming with Mike (my Alaskan friend) and two other guys – Jeff and Eric (one of the two whose baggage was lost). We have a big living room with a TV and big table, a full kitchen and large bathroom, and then essentially three bedrooms. One has bunk beds, and then there are two rooms on top of each other - I'm in the one below, which has a full sized bed, and Mike is above me in a little loft. I will try and upload some pictures in the near future.

After arriving at 1:30 PM and unpacking, we were planning on going to get some lunch. However, we all fell asleep and ended up napping for four hours. We woke up at almost 8 PM and decided it was dinner time. We wandered down a few streets and found a nice little ristorante where we had some Italian pizza. It was good, but not life-changing. I had pizza marghuerita which is just cheese and sauce essentially. The waiter was really nice and helped us with our italian, and overall it was a good experience. We then went to a little gelato shop and had some delicious italian ice cream. I wasn't very adventurous and had mint and what appeared to be chocolate chip. Next time I'll be a little more daring. So then we came back and just hung out for a few hours. We weren't terrible tired because of the nap, but still managed to fall asleep by midnight. I slept great and woke up this morning at about 7:30.

This morning we went for a short walk and found a nice fitness center around the corner. It is a little expensive though. It is 55 euro per month for students. I'm not sure what we'll do, tomorrow we are going to try a run and see how that works out. At nine we met with the Accent staff downstairs and boarded a bus to the Accent center. Accent is the program coordinating company we are using. The bus ride was long and very hot and crowded. In the future we will most likely walk – which will still be about 30 minutes to class each day. At Accent, we were given a short tour of the area and of the rooms in the building. Accent is in the Piazza del'Orologio, named after a big clock tower. The facilities are nice – air conditioned and comfortable chairs. At least that part of the classes should be okay. We then had a pretty long orientation in which a ton of information was thrown at us, but it was quite helpful. At this point it was about 1 PM and we had a break until 3, so we decided to grab some lunch. We went to a pasta place and I had pasta carbonara, one of my favorites back home. It was quite different here, but still pretty good. I must say I like my parents' recipe better though. Then we wandered some more and went to the Campo di'Fiori, which is a marketplace during the day.

At 3, we met back at Accent and went on a walking tour. We hit many of the big places, but only briefly – so I will definitely have to go back. Some of the places were the Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps, the Pantheon, the Four Rivers fountain, the Campo di'Fiori again, and several other buildings designed by Boromini and Bernini. It was all amazing as expected, but the Pantheon was the most breath-taking to me. More on that later when I go back again. We then took the metro back to our apartments, which was very quick and convenient. If only it went close to Accent...oh well, I guess the walking will help burn off all the food.

So then we relaxed for about an hour, and then got on the bus (not crowded this time) back to Accent where we had a big group dinner. We had a four course meal with pasta, salad, pork, and tiramisu. It was very delicious and now I am stuffed. After dinner, we walked back and made a quick stop at St. Peter's Cathedral on the way, but not nearly long enough for me. I will be back soon to get a closer look. It was about 10 PM when we got back and now I need to start working on my paper which is due in two days....