So I am writing two days together because now that we have started school, there is not a whole lot to talk about! Yesterday, Wednesday, I did not have class until 1 so I slept in, let the cleaning lady in, did some homework, then took a longer scenic route to school! I walked down our street all the way until I hit the ruins and then walked along the ruins to school! It was so gorgeous! I also saw some people playing music along the street! After class, we went to the grocery store because we were cooking dinner as an apartment! I got the salad... grew the lettuce myself. We ended up having shells with meat and tomato sauce! It was delicious! Then, basically half of the program went to an Irish pub for karaoke! It was so much fun! Thursday morning we had our last day of class for the week! I also tried a new restaurant for lunch that is right next to school. It is called Buddy's and they take our student meal tickets, give student discounts, and have a buffet for lunch!! It was so good!! After class we had a woman from the US Consultant come talk to us! Her talk was terrifying but her job sounds so cool! My classes have been so interesting so far! In photography, we are taking about ten pictures a week for the first month to try to figure out what we want our concentrations to be! We are suppose to take pictures of things that stand out to us. So far, I have figured out that, because Rome is such a big city, my favorite spots to take pictures in are the quiet places that take you back to the typical ideas of a laid back Europe. I enjoy taking pictures of the true emotions of the people you pass on the street and taking pictures of those small quiet spaces or representations of the traditional European nature. These two categories help me to understand the culture that I am living in right now, which is why I think I like them. In my Italian Society class we are learning all about the start of Rome right now. It is so fascinating to me that basically the entire ancient city of Rome is beneath the current city... when you pass ruins they are all below the street level, which makes sense because they are so old that as they crumble new things are able to be built on top of them. Also, our guide during the tour last weekend when we got here said that most things that we still have today were very important buildings that had huge staircases leading up to them so that is why they are on street level now. Also, the other thing that blows my mind as I walk around is that people such as Julius Caesar and others that had such an impact on this city were all here before Jesus was even born... On my walk to school you see the ruins of places that Julius Caesar was often times working at, and a block from school are the three temples' ruins from where he was killed. All the history is so much to wrap my brain around! This week has been very overwhelming because Rome is so big and I am just beginning to know my way around just my neighborhood which has been stressing me out because I like to know my way around! But this weekend we don't have anything planned so I can explore with my friends and get ahold of this incredible city!