Sorry again or being behind on my posts. The pace picked up again this week, and being without my computer for the weekend took its toll. So Monday. My writing class had been cancelled because Monday and Tuesday were designated as personal conference days. My meeting was not until Tuesday at 1, so I didn’t have to go to class until 2 pm. During this time I had originally been planning to meet up with my friend Brandon Louck’s mom and sister, who were in Rome for a few days. They were getting a tour of the Vatican that finished at 12, so we figured we’d meet up then. However, it turns out they needed to catch a bus back to their hotel because walking there would have been really far. So instead we agreed on meeting after my class. So at about 1:15 we walked over to Accent for ISE. This was the first day with our new professor. He was a little late and quite jet-lagged. I think he also got lost on the way, plus it was one of the hottest days of the year so far. His name is Virgil and I can’t get even close to spelling or pronouncing his last name. To be honest, his teaching style is not all the appealing to me, but I won’t bore you with those details. I am trying to give him the benefit of the doubt since he had a rough start after a long flight. But it was a struggle to pay attention the whole time.

After class, I went to catch a bus over to the Barberini metro stop, where the Loucks were staying. As I approached the stop I saw the bus just leaving. Rather than wait I decided to run after it. The streets were narrow, so I was able to keep up, but the driver refused to stop until the next bus stop. It turned out to be some distance away, and I was quite sweaty by that point, especially because of the heat. But I made it and it saved me a really long walk. I met up with the Loucks, who were traveling with one of Lauren’s friends and her mom. It had been over two years since I had seen them, so it was great to catch up, especially in Rome! We got some gelato and then sat down on the side of the street and chatted for awhile. Then we went back up to their hotel and talked some more in a lounge. We both shared our travel tales and I got to hear a bunch of funny stories from their end. After about an hour and a half I had to go to get to work on my Illumin article, so I said goodbye and hopped on the metro back to Via Candia.

So by this point I had already written maybe 400 words of my article. It had to be 1500-2000 words, so I still had a ways to go. It was due on Wednesday, but my conference was Tuesday, so I wanted to have a good amount done to get feedback. I think I mentioned it, but my article was on concussions in football, specifically advances engineers have made recently on ways to monitor them and diagnose them more efficiently. So at least it was a topic I was interested in, but still writing is never fun, at least when it comes to assignments. I spent the rest of the night working on this, with a short break for Lost, which I managed to get working finally. I have to stream it from ABC.com, through a VPN client that makes it look like I’m at USC, and the result is that the connection is quite slow. But I make do. Anyways, the paper was slow, but I got all my research done. I worked until 1 am and got the word count just over 1000. Finally, I slept.

Tuesday my roommate from home, Matt, flew into Rome. He is going back-packing through Italy with a friend who was supposed to arrive that night. He was in Rome for Tuesday and then left Wednesday for Milan and he’ll be back in Rome in early July. So anyways, Mike and I went to meet Matt at the Termini metro station at 9:30. Luckily, we ran into each other just as we both arrived, so neither of us had to wait. On the way home we got all caught up on how our summers had been so far and we made plans for what to go see before class. We decided to get back on the metro and go to Spagna to see the Spanish Steps. We then hit Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, and eventually Piazza Navona. We even had time to grab lunch and gelato before my conference at 1.

My conference went well, but to be honest she didn’t give me much input. She was very encouraging, which is good, but didn’t really give me anything to improve on or guidance for how to continue. Oh well, as long as she doesn’t mark me down for it later I don’t mind. So during my conference and next class, Matt went over to the Vatican to explore St. Peter’s Basilica. In ISE, we again had another boring class. The professor was better today, but I’m still not a fan.

So after class we met up with Matt over by the Vatican. On the way back to the apartment we stopped at the grocery store and decided to make a nice dinner. We decided on saltimbocca again, this time with pasta and then tiramisu. We also decided to buy some nice wine – at least nicer than we are used to – some Pinot Grigio and Chianti. Then we went back to the apartment and I got to work on my article. Mike had finished his, so he and Matt began working on dinner. This night, the paper went much faster and by dinner time I was up to 1500 words. Dinner was really good, especially the tiramisu. After dinner we had a quick Bible study with just me, Mike, Daniella, and Matt. Then Matt had to leave to go meet his friend at the train station. After he left I got an email from his mom saying that his friend’s flight had been cancelled. So we called Matt, which luckily went through, and told him that his friend would meet him in Milan. Matt stayed at a hostel for the night and then left for Milan on Wednesday. Anyways, then it was back to work for the rest of the night. I was up until about 3 am, and it turned out pretty good. Of course I wish I had more time, but alas, the time was up. So I went to sleep and slept in until about 10 before going to class.

In writing on Wednesday we turned in our paper and then went over the rest of the summer. We talked about our final projects and our portfolios, which consist of revisions of our ethics and Illumin papers. We got out early and we went and got some lunch before ISE. I got a calzone with ham and cheese that was good. ISE was boring again, and I still haven’t learned a thing from this new professor, but I managed to pass the time.

After class I watched another episode of Lost and then got to work on my ISE homework, which was ridiculously long. It wasn’t hard, but just took a long time. I took a break at 7:30 to go to dinner with a bunch of people to celebrate Andrew Bondor’s 22nd birthday. I got lasagna and a pizza margherita that were absolutely delicious and had a lot of fun with everyone. Then back to work, and I was able to finish by about 10. I chatted with my mom and Kristin for awhile and then went to bed.

I woke up “early” this morning to skype with Kristin at 8:30. It was good to talk, since being busy lately has made it difficult. Then it was classes, which were good today. In writing we had group presentations on our progress for our final projects. Then, in ISE we had class for an hour and then took the quiz. It was hard and I didn’t do amazing, but it was bearable. After class I walked back and now I am doing laundry. Tonight should be a lot of fun because we are going to the opera. We are seeing Carmen, which starts at 8:30. I’ll hopefully get some good pictures and update as soon as possible. Not sure when that will be though, since we leave for Florence early tomorrow morning!