Well Lizzie McGuire is a genius because this city really is what dreams are made of... the amount of times that I got teary eyed and emotionally overwhelmed today is too high to count. We started the day out by a nice breakfast at our apartment while relaxing and taking our time to get ready. Then Justine and I set out to the grocery store to get presents for our gal-entine's day presents between our little group of friends! We then went to a caffe near school for a snack and cup of coffee before our tour of Rome this afternoon. There we ran into Alexa and her roommate and hung out with them while waiting for our tour guide. When we started the tour I knew that I would be blown away by what we were about to see, but nothing could have prepared me for the emotions that I felt. We started the tour by walking to the Pantheon. It just happens to be right around the corner from our school... situation on a tiny square in the middle of shops and apartments. It is insane how you can be walking around a city and boom there is an ancient building. Anyway, we found out that originally the pantheon was rectangularly shaped, but as they redid it it became circular. Also, most of Ancient Rome is buried underneath the current city. There used to be steps leading up to the Pantheon but as the city grew on top of the old one, the steps got covered up and the Pantheon became ground level. However, if you pay attention to the group around it, it is situated slightly lower than the normal ground level. The columns in front of it were all made in Egypt. The floor inside was made in the year 117... it is honestly hard to grasp the reality that this building was built so long ago and the amount of history that it holds. A woman named Margarit is buried inside of it and from her we get the margarita pizza and the colors of the Italian flag (apparently the flag used to look different...??) According to our tour guide the flag is red, white, and green for tomatoes, cheese, and basil -- aka a margarita pizza! Both of which were created in honor of her. Also, the ceiling was built so that there is a perfect opening in the center top of the dome. However, somehow rain never gets in... they said at most it will mist inside the church during a rain storm. I was in amazement at the detail and precision of the building considering it was built when a simple chisel was their only tool. Our guide said it only took a few years to build. That simple fact is so incredibly hard to understand when you are standing there staring at this incredible work of art. After leaving the Pantheon, we hit a few more churches, both of which honestly took my breath away. I have never seen churches be so detailed and intricate before. One of them had an incredible amount of gold and carvings inside. So much so that when building it, they ran out of money and could not afford to put a dome at the top. Because of this, they created a mural on the ceiling that looks like a dome. However, when you walk exactly under it and look up, the center of the dome is off center because it gives an affect that there is a dome when you are looking at it from any other angle. The fact that the people back then were so smart to know to do this incredible mind game with paint amazes me. People now-a-days are not this smart, nor do they care enough to make anything this detailed and breathtaking. Our next major stop on the tour was the Trevi Fountain. I waited and waited for Paulo or another famous pop star to recognize me but it simply didn't happen... He clearly is out of the country on tour and just forgot to invite me! All joking aside, the fountain is exactly like the pictures, honestly its better. It was so cool to finally be there in person that non of us minded the crowds. It was an incredible spot to just sit and watch and dream of being Lizzie Mcguire!! I threw my euro cents in and made a wish :) They say that you have to use your right hand and throw it over your left shoulder! and most people wish for true love or to come back to Rome! Our last stop on the tour was the Spanish Steps, but they were unfortunately closed for renovation! But we learned that actually they were made by a French man and are situated between the French and Spanish embassies (I believe...) but it is named the Spanish Steps because the Spanish claimed them and took the name. They are located in the richest area of Rome! This is where our tour ended so my friends and I walked back in the direction of school to find a snack then eventually dinner! We stopped at a smoothie place on some side street where we sat and hung out waiting for restaurants to open for dinner. Then we somehow found our way back to the area of school where we found an incredible pasta place for dinner! It was called Zio Circo and I had amazing Seafood Risotto! The service was amazing and the food was so good! The portions were also huge so we took half of it home for lunch tomorrow!! At dinner we celebrated our gal-entine's day and exchanged our gifts! It was so fun!! It is so cool that after only such a short period of time, we all know each other well enough to get presents that we know the other person will love! We then headed back to a gelato shop right by school! From there we all headed back to our own apartments and got ready for our first day of school that is tomorrow!