Saturday and Sunday: We showed up in the Indianapolis
airport around 8 am. We flew from Indy to Dallas and then Dallas to Rome. Our flight to Rome was ten hours long, we flew with American airlines, they
provided us with two meals and some snacks and drinks. Our first meal was an
option of chicken or pasta. I decided to get the pasta, it was good! It had
mushrooms on it, with some bread, a cookie, water, and some veggies. Our second
meal was breakfast about an hour before we landed. Breakfast consisted of some
yogurt, bread, and some granola bars. Our plane did have some free movies and
tv shows we could watch which was very helpful when boredom struck. Never have
I ever peed on a plane, and I still to this day never peed on a plane, man did
I have to go when we landed. We landed in Rome about seven am Sunday morning. I
have never been so stressed at the airport. We had to go find FUA
representatives to take us on the train and guide us to our hotel. On our paper
work it said we were supposed to meet at a meeting point sign in the airport.
Apparently, this meeting point does not exist. We walked around the airport for
about an hour and a half trying to find people! Around 9:15 we saw people in bright
red shirts that said FUA on them, those were our people! There are about 20 of
us trying to all go to the same place, they walked us down to the train, so we
can buy our 14 euro train tickets. We get to the train and as we are getting in
the doors are about the shut, one of the FUA representatives shoves the rest of
us in the train before the doors closed. We sit down with our luggage as we try
to figure out where we get off. We finally make it to the hotel and it’s not
even noon yet. With some help from Umberto (he is our professor for this week) Let me tell ya, Jet lag is a real thing. We are three people per
room, so three twin beds. Our bathroom is pretty nice, toilets do not flush the
same as they do in the US! In our shower we had this rope and you are supposed
to grab it if you fall to call someone, but what if you fall without grabbing
the rope? Seems like a strange system to me. Around 12:30 we decided to go to a
pizzeria for lunch. There are six of us and we ate outside along the street. We
ordered water, and two pizza’s that were 9 euro’s each. Did you know that pizza
in Italy will not have the red tomato sauce if it doesn’t say it on the menu!
We got a four-cheese pizza and there was no red sauce on it! We thought the
bill would come out to be 18 euro’s, by the time we got the bill (FYI you have
to ask for it) it said 37 euro’s! We also forgot that water isn’t free in Italy
and we got charged 12 euro’s just to sit at the table it’s called coperto! What
a strange thing, well know we know. Sunday evening, we went out to dinner with
our whole group, we went to this restaurant and we got 3 courses. Our first
course consisted of pasta with pesto on it, it was good but very strong. Our
second course consisted of veil and potatoes, it was so good, especially the
potatoes. Our last course was dessert and it was this coffee / espresso cake,
if you love coffee you will love this! Once we got back from dinner we went up
on the roof top of our hotel to look out over Rome and it was beautiful!
Monday: On Monday morning we made our way to the colosseum, it was more than I could’ve ever hoped for! It was stunning! We got a guided tour that was very informing. During the tour we also walked up 100 steps and went to the imperial palace, it was higher up on top of a hill. There were statues, ancient land marks, monuments, and gardens. We walked up a few more steps and got to look over the city of Rome from high up. It was gorgeous, you could see for miles. We went to lunch and had bruschetta and pasta. Later in the evening Umberto (our professor for the week) took us on a walking tour where we went to the Trevi Fountain where we threw a coin over our shoulder into the fountain, it was also the first time I had Italian gelato! It was delicious, they aren’t lying when they say you need to try pasta, pizza, and gelato! After Trevi fountain we went to the Spanish steps and had free time. After some time at trevi fountain a group of us decided to go back to the hotel using the metro system. It’s basically just like New York City! Once we got back to the hotel it was time to relax for a while. For dinner a group of us went out to a place called Nuova Stella, I got some fettucine alfredo and a lemoncello! That stuff is strong, it’s like a shot! Later that night we went to a place called the Ice Bar. The whole entire place is ice, it was super fun! My first time in a bar! Fun Fact: Did you know that they paint the houses and building yeallow, orange, and super fun colors because it makes the sky look more blue?
Tuesday: Today we went to Vatican City to have a tour of the
Vatican! It was beautiful, the amount of detail there was is incredible! Next, we
took a bus to Caparola and went to visit this beautiful garden and historic building.
Art work in every room. At dinner tonight we went to Viterbo and ate dinner on
a farm, all of the food was fresh and from the farm! It was fantastic, of
course we had some wine with it.
Wednesday: We went to Bagnaia to visit this beautiful garden,
the symmetry was amazing. Wednesday afternoon we had free time for lunch and
then we went to visit the Sacred Wood in Graffigano. This garden consisted of
huge statues that related to a specific story from the artist. We then got on a
bus and traveled to Capalbio, we visited a glass museum, this was one of my
favorite stops. The art work is astounding, I’ve never seen anything like it.
We then arrived to our hotel in Piombino for the night.
Thursday: Today we went to the beach! We spend an hour at
the beach and let me tell you, it was amazing! The water was so clear and not
even cold. We also went to a wine tasting this afternoon at a vineyard. We
tried four wines, one white and 3 reds! We ended up buying the bottle of white,
so clearly we enjoyed it. That night we got to our hotel and we had dinner as a
group at a seafood restaurant! It was so good, my favorite meal so far!
Friday: Today we went to visit a paper mache museum. It was
pretty awesome to see how much detail these artists can put into this! For
lunch on Friday we had some American food! A burger and French fries in
Viareggio! We then got on a bus and went to Seravezza to look at some marble
statues.
Saturday we went to the 5 towns in Cinque Terre! We traveled by train – we might have missed one or two! I think this was my favorite stop. We saw beautiful views and ate lunch at a restaurant that had great strawberry Daquiri’s! Saturday night was our last night together to end our week! We had a lovely seafood dinner in Montignoso.
Sunday we woke up and went on a bike ride around
Forte Dei Marmi, it was beautiful! We
then ate lunch at a pizzeria and went to Florence to begin our semester! Shout out
to Umberto and Francesca! Our week would not have been so much fun without them! 
