Rome Sweet Rome.

REMINDER: You can click on any picture to make it bigger.


Thank you to everyone for the birthday wishes and gifts! It made my day great!


This was a toga party that the interior design girls held at their apartment. This is a picture of all of us graphic design kids. Toga toga toga!

This is some cool grafitti right by the train tracks in Naples. I love the color.

Yummy vegetarian pizza at our hostel in Sorrento. Kim and I were in love!

These are a few of my roomies walking on the road by our hostel in Sorrento.

Me on the beach of our hostel in Sorrento. It was beautiful! About 80 degrees, and the water was so salty.

This is a group of us acting like real gladiators at Pompeii. I'm pretty sure everyone thought we were crazy!

This picture is a little haunting. These are casted bodies at Pompeii from the ash. It appears to me that this is a father keeping watch over a mother and child when the eruption was happening.

Doing as the Romans do. (Notice: leaves in hair, and leaves on shirt. Yeah...I planned it. hah.)

This is the view from our the convent we stayed at in Sorrento. It was absolutely beautiful. You can see Mt. Vesuvius in the background.

This is the breakfast the nuns had for us in the morning, they were so nice! Crossants, nutella (I will talk more about this later. It's pretty big in Italy), crackers, and coffee.

Another picture when we were eating breakfast at the convent. You can see the water outside.

In the convent. This reminds me of the book 'Madeline.' All of the beds where the girls sleep.

This is a picture I took when we were at a Pompeii museum in Naples.

Downtown Sorrento at night.

Me at our $60 dinner. All of the ISU kids did it. Four courses! So yummy.

Our apartment at our table. All of the other kids from ISU are around us.

First course: Antipasti (appetizers). Cheese puffs, fresh mozzerella wrapped in a mint leaf, etc.

Second course: Pasta with cheese.

Third course: Fish and potatoes. (I couldn't finish this one. Way too full!)

Fourth course: Lemon creme dessert.

The girls from my apartment in Sorrento.

There was an awesome storm rolling in. This is the view from the convent at night. You can see Mt. Vesuvius. I tried to get the lightning.

Waiting for the train....


Well, this post is going to have to be quick. It's my birthday today, yeah! I'm going out to eat with a few girls from my apartment, and they made me a cake, too! That's why I'm in a hurry to leave because we are eating soon. So, these pictures are a bit of a recap of what's been going on. We went on our 'Southern' field trip this last weekend to Naples, Pompeii, and Sorrento. It was so fun. We took the train from Rome to Naples. Then we went to a few museums. Then we took a bus to Sorrento where we stayed at a convent. This convent was beautiful. The nuns greeted us by waving yelling 'Ciao! Ciao!'. They were so excited to have us kids stay. The convent was right on the water. That night we went to a four course dinner in Sorrento. Woah. I was stuffed. I couldn't finish all of it! It was amazing food, though. The next morning we took the train to Pompeii and was there for a day. So much history. Many things are still in tact, making it such an interesting place. That night we stayed in a hostel in Pompeii. This was the time when our field trip was over, and we went on with the girls from our apartment. The next morning we woke up and went to our hostel in Sorrento. This was right on the water, and oh so cute. Everything was very clean and we were beach bums most of the time. On Sunday, we stayed in the sun, then took a train home that night to Rome. Well, that is a VERY brief overview of my little trip this weekend. Like I said, I've got to get to my birthday dinner. I'm thinking pizza. Hah. I miss you all. And I promise to make a little more time for myself to go in depth about certain things here in Rome. The culture/food/etc. I will write soon. P.S. Sorry for any grammatical errors, I'll fix em' soon! Ciao!

Where I call home.

Well, this is my bedroom. Three girls live in it (the bed behind me you don't see). My bed is the closest one to the window.

This is another three person bedroom.

This is a two person bedroom, and there is a bathroom on the left with a shower.

This is a walkway area right outside of my bedroom, and then it goes into the living room. To the left of me are two other bedrooms. This is a place where we do our hair and dry our clothes on drying racks, since there is no dryer.

This is one angle of our living room with our dining table. There are two windows to the left of me that open and we have mini balconys. We re-covered our couches with matching sheets to make our place a bit more 'homey'.

This is the other angle of our living room with the balcony window open.

This is our kitchen with 3 fridges. Straight ahead is our other bathroom with shower.


It sure is noisy at night living off of a main street. We awoke on Saturday morning to what sounded like someone's rendition of the musical 'Stomp.' It's been quite humid here, so walking to class is pretty sweaty. I walked through the Vatican today on my way back from getting paper for class. It was a beautiful place! People and pigeons everywhere. I'm at studio right now and it's 8:38pm, I'm just going to get some homework done. I heard Iowa State won! I'm sad I couldn't be there! Well, I have really nothing much to report. My feet are so tired from walking today. So, I'm going to bed early so I can wake up and run in the park. It's very quiet at 6:30 in the morning and not many people are around, making it easier to run. I miss everyone! Ciao bello!

Do as the Romans do.

Me on the street for the festival.

This is a picture I took of a woman looking at the ruins.

A few girls for a night out.

Me in front of ruins.

The girls on the beach.

The living room of our apartment.

I took this picture when we were walking in our art history class.

The Colloseum at night.

Buon giorno!
Well, I'm starting on my second week in Rome, and I'm really starting to love it. I got a cell phone, so I feel a little more connected to the world, and the internet at studio is beginning to work better. We went to the beach this weekend, and it was really nice weather, not too hot at all. There was a jet ski competition going on, so that was fun to watch. We took the train to get there, and had to walk a while to find a 'free beach.' All of them are mostly country club types with pools and restaurants. Walking is something we all have become very good at, so if we have to walk awhile, we're ok with it. We went out to a club on Friday night, and boy are those Italian men friendly, ha! Everyone has something called 'a bubble' and sometimes you just have to keep people out of that bubble. Classes are going fine. Not much homework yet. Our art history class is interesting because one class we have lecture, and the other class we go on location and actually get to see what we are learning about. There was a HUGE festival on Saturday night where it seemed all of Rome was in the streets. They opened up all of the museums for free and there were many stages and street performers. The main busy street was right outside of our apartment. Also, that is the street where all of the cool shopping stores are. Very convenient....but not so convenient for my bank account. It has been quite the experiment finding the right food in the supermarket. I think I have finally learned a few words and key things to look for. I really like the girls I'm living with, there are 11 of us. Everyone is always up for doing something, and doesn't complain. We all get along really well. I don't know if I covered everything, but if you have any questions, you can e-mail me. It's kind of tough updating this because sometimes the interent doesn't work, but I'm trying my best. I will take more pictures of my apartment, but here is one, for now. I just assume everyone would rather see pictures than listen to me ramble on, so that's why I keep it short and sweet. I miss everyone!

I'm in Roma!

This is a picture I took of Orlando Bloom when he came out of the play he is in, in London.

In Roma! Very small cars.
This is outside of my school. It's a very old, historic building.

A picture of the Minerva plaza. It reminded me of Minerva's (a restaurant at home).

The Pantheon! Right next to my house.

The Pantheon plaza. Beautiful.

*These pictures are small but I'll make them bigger later. I have to go to class.

Well, I have finally reached my destination. The flight didn't go without any hiccups, however. Our travel agency failed to tell our airline that we had any baggage on our flight. So, they charged us for it. I had to pay $240, but I got off easy because I flirted with the guy. My two other friends had to pay $467. It was ridiculous. Buuuuut, I'm here and Rome is amazing. Our living situation is really nice! I went grocery shopping already, and everything is different. But I found out that Integrale means Multi-grain, so I know how to get my wheat bread and pasta. Sadly, no peanut butter. So, I got peanuts instead. We have an art history class in a half an hour, and then a few of us are going to go to dinner. Then, tomorrow we have a full day of classes. The language barrier is a little tough here, and I really do feel like an American, but everything else makes up for it. I live like 3 blocks away from the Pantheon! Crazy! So, here are a few pictures of Rome, and then one picture of Orlando Bloom because I saw him in London. Funny. Talk to you soon! I miss you all!

My feet hurt.

Waiting before we go into Windsor Castle with our handheld audio tour guides.
Waiting....
Still waiting....
Me with a Windsor Castle Guard. I was a little nervous to stand by him.

Our group in front of the Windsor Courtyard. It was an amazing castle!
Leaving Windsor.

The girls in front of the Thames.

Saying hello to mom n' dad.

Picture from the Tower of London. It has amazing history.

A picture at night in Hyde Park.

Me on the Millenium Bridge on our way to Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. The London Bridge is in the background.At the Diana 10 year memorial in front of Kensington Palace. There were signs all of the gates and camera men everywhere.


I will write more about everywhere we have been, but now we are meeting a lot of other friends who are in London at Trafalgar Square. Cheers!