Nothing new...

Hey, I don't really have anything new or crazy to post, but it's been a while since I've last updated this thing.

Well last night I went out with my friend Gianfranco who I met in Campo Di Fiori. It's a local square full of pubs and we just watched a soccer game with some of his friends and mine at a bar called Sloppy Sam's. They get intense watching soccer.

This weekend I go to Assisi so I will have new pictures to post.

My hair is getting longer and isn't as awkward as I thought it was.

My feet still smell.

And Sunday Corrado is taking Sarah, Heidi and I to a wine and pork bar. Should be interesting. That's all for now, sorry there wasn't anything to crazy to tell you guys, but thanks for reading, I'll be in touch soon.

-Vidi

My Italian Haircut

I went to a salon yesterday and had my Italian friend tell me how to say "Do what you want to my hair" because no matter what I think they would have. And let's just say they did do something, I'll describe it as a sort of fo-hawk with a sort of rat-tail. Ha ha. 

The front is really short, the middle is long, and the back is kind of long in the middle and short on the sides. I'm sure there will be pictures of it soon if I don't go and cut it off.

Can't sleep, so I thought I'd BLOG!

Hey there. Took a nap today when I got home from class, so now I can't sleep. Eh, it's only 2:30 here and I have a class tomorrow from 8-5. Red Bull anyone?

Girls dominate this program, at a ratio of about 4:1. The girls in the picture are some I met on the trip, and the guy next to me is Corrado. I met him at the hostel in London and we exchanged phone numbers. He came out with us for White night, he speaks really good English and taught me some slang. "Bella Zio" is "Hey Dude" but literally means "Beautiful Uncle" in Italian. He wants to show us some places only the locals know, so we're going to get a really cool experience.

Just some more girls and me. The one to MY right is Heidi who I traveled with to London before Rome. The one next to her is Hillary who I worked at the bookstore with.

More graffiti. I love the graffiti here, this was more lining the river and says Rome in English. I have to alter a book for my mixed media class and I think I am going to do a series on the graffiti around my area. For my painting class I will be using the picture of the hanging fruit from a couple stories down to create my still-life. 

That is all for now, I'll try to get some sleep. I'm thinking twice about naps now...

The Cat Sanctuary and a Museum

Today I went around Rome and took pictures for a couple of hours. Lots of walking, Rome is Huge. On saturday night there was a festival called White Night, which the local pubs and stores are open all night and people just walk around the city. We went out with a group of about 20 of us and just walked around the city.

The Cat Sanctuary. This is a sealed off area full of old ruins and also full of Cats. Stray cats.... so we named it the Cat Sanctuary. Nuns around the area take care of them and give them shots but they mostly survive off the charity of others. On halloween the nuns have to gather all of the black cats because some people are superstitious and will sacrifice them.

Here are some of the cats just chillin' in the ruins.

I visited the Musei Capitolini which our art history teacher took us to but I went back to snap some pictures of some very famous statues.

Romulus and Remus. The twin brothers who founded Rome. They were found by a she-wolf who instead of eating them nursed them.

The Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius.

This is what I am going as for Halloween. Golden boy. All I need is some gold spray paint... and also I need to get ripped.

This is a famous statue which I forgot the name of. But it is of modest Aphrodite who has just been caught bathing. 

The Dying Gaul. This was a really powerful statue. It is about a Celt who is injured and refuses to accept his fate. It was crazy how much time went into making this, you could see veins on his arms, and individual creases in his knuckles. It was crazy to see it in real life rather than in a book.

Colosseum, Forum and Fruit

Here is the old Roman Forum. In the picture you can see the Arch of Titus

(I think) on the left.

The colosseum. I haven't been in it yet but plan to and have pictures of it soon.

The most colorful fruit I have ever seen.

More fruit.

There are homeless people everywhere. Someone told me that most of them

belong in a mental institution but Rome doesn't have a system set up for it

so they just roam the streets. It's really sad to see.

This homeless lady shook her change cup at everyone who passed. I gave her a Euro.

This Church is right around the corner. It's only open on Sundays and I find myself always in it snapping pictures.

McDonalds

So I finally went to a McDolands over here. I was missing my good ol' fattening American fast food. It was not the same, I think they drain the fat. There was NO grease, and I miss dipping fries in Ranch Dressing SOOOOO bad right now.

All I've eaten over here is pizza, pasta, and salami and cream cheese sandwiches... and a really crappy McDonalds BigMac. If anyone wants to send me anything in the mail please send a double quarter pounder with cheese. Thanks.

My Feet...

Just thought you all should know that my feet still smell the same here in Roma.

Trevi, Trojan, Vatican and More...

Today I finally got out and explored Rome. My favorite thing to do is find the place I want to go, count how many bridges to get there and then walk along the Tiber river since it is very close to my apartment and easy to navigate. Today I saw most of the sites, I started towards Trevi fountain, 8 bridges away haha. 

Just a view walking along the Tiber.

There are statues everywhere. This one was lining one of the bridges.

Trevi was everything I thought it would be and more.

I loved it there and am sure I will be visiting it a lot.

I want to see it at night sometime.

Someone had most of their bike parts stolen...

and just outside of the Vatican too.

The Vatican.

Here is a kid that was chasing pigeons just in front of the Vatican.

Graffiti is everywhere. This is some on the walls lining the Tiber.

The Mediterranean Sea!

Yesterday a group of us went to a beach just outside of Rome.

These two boys were playing on a dock. Waves were splashing up against and soaking everyone. They were a riot to watch.

Here's just a couple of us attempting to jump,

this sadly was the best one, and not all of us are off the ground.

I will be posting pictures from Rome and the sites around it soon. Arrivederci (Goodbye).

Um... Pantheon?!?!?!

By the way... was just wondering the streets of Rome today looking for the housing office with a group of people and out of the blue there's the Pantheon! You know... no big deal, just an insanely old building a couple blocks from my apartment. Just thought I'd share. Ciao.

Stonehenge and Bath

So we took a 12 hour trip to Stonehenge and Bath. Two very nice places I recommend to all. We couldn't have picked a better day to go because the sun actually came out, our tour guide was freaking out because in London and around the area it is always overcast and shady.

Here is a photo of stonehenge. I took at least 20 pictures of this place but they all look the same. If you really want me to show them to you sometime let me know.

We took an audio tour and they explained the mysteries of Stonehenge and all the theories about why it was built. One theory was made by aliens. There we archeologists working on the site when we went looking for remains of an old river that might have flown through there telling them something or other about Stonehenges' origin.

This is the town of Bath. Apparently Johnny Depp owns a house here according to our tour guide. This was a beautiful city, and really beautiful on a sunny day. The town was pretty big and had Roman baths, old cathedrals and tons of pubs. We had 3 1/2 hours to spend in this city.

We walked along the river and sat in a park for a good 2 of those hours,

it was such amazing scenery. 

Here is a picture of a park in Bath. They did everything the could to get money in this town so you had to pay to get in it, but there were plenty of others to visit. 

I'm officially in Rome now after the longest wait of my life at the airport. We had orientation today and tomorrow start classes. I also hope to pick up a phone here soon, so a few lucky people will be getting some calls!!! In the mean time... stay cool and play it safe yo!

Missed my flight!

Hello everyone, Sorry it's been a while since I've posted anything last. Now I have a lot of time to post things because I missed my flight to Rome. Yep, I've spent roughly 5 hours in line getting a ticket and then another 8 at the airport waiting to board. I won't explain why I missed my flight, let's just say Rob doesn't look closely at information until the day of I guess.

It's been a long day.

Well London was amazing. We took bus tours, toured the city, shopped and ate out. We went to a club until 3 and then left for stonehenge the next day at 6, so that was a long day too. I'm definitely getting use to the time over here and have already developed that college life time schedule!

Big Ben wasn't as big as I thought it would be. It was still cool to see, and in this picture you can see the London of the eye of the sky in the background

Buckingham palace. The flag is at full staff meaning the queen is IN THE HOUSE!

This is a photo of a London cathedral from our tour bus.

Well that's all for now, hope you all enjoyed. I'll be adding some photos of Stonehenge and a town called Bath soon, and just maybe some pictures of the airport I will be at for 13 HOURS... depending on how bored I get. Ciao!